Roger Hayden Johnson

Roger Hayden Johnson has been painting since the age of ten, when he begged his parents to buy him a set of oil paints after watching the movie Lust for Life, in which Kirk Douglas played the role of Vincent Van Gogh. He taught himself to paint the landscapes near the small Iowa farm where his father raised cattle.

As he was growing up, the highlight of each summer was a one-week fishing trip in Minnesota. Often, when his family was out on the lake fishing, Roger could be found at the harbor drawing and painting the boats - the beginning of a lifelong fascination with the reflected light and color of boats on water. He later studied art at Central College in Pella, Iowa, and earned a Masters Degree in art and art history from the University of Northern Iowa and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting and drawing from Drake University in Des Moines.

Today, Johnson lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado, with his wife Mary, who works for the Library of Congress. They have two children - Allen Hayden Johnson, a web developer in Denver, Colorado, and Anna Elise Johnson, an artist in Los Angeles, California, and Rome, Italy. Roger has also lived and studied in Europe for several years and travels there for two or three months each year to visit small fishing villages and harbors in search of the small wooden skiffs that he depicts in his work. Roger Hayden Johnson's works are in private and museum collections all over the world.

Submitted by Manitou Galleries