Nils C Johnson Fine Art

    The drawings above are large studies I did for a painting I am working on. It is a leek and some potatoes. I wanted to explain a little bit about my method for working out new ideas. Many artists find their ideas start in a sketchbook. Sometimes I am no different and of course have sketchbooks of my own. Still, the meat of my process is worked out in larger scale with charcoal. I find myself doing dozens of these large drawings in a single sitting at times, just working out small kinks and compositions. The reason I prefer working ideas out in this format over a more traditional sketchbook is that it provides a more fluid transition to painting for me. The paintings I work on are not miniatures. The size I work on requires more fluid movement. Often times these drawings can be a sort of practice for the movements necessary to complete a painting. I find working on large sheets in charcoal feels a lot closer to the movements of painting than sitting down scribbling in ...

      One thing that has always intrigued me were the small offerings and trinkets put in front of the family home's shrine (also known as a butsudan ). When a close family relative died, I noticed something strange. A small eggplant and cucumber with legs had been placed in front the family shrine. Curious about the reason, I learned all about them.       These are known as shouryouma , or spirit horses. When the dead cross over, of course they need to ride something. Legend says they ride cows and horses. The eggplant represents a fat cow, and and the cucumber represents a fast horse.       When the families come to pray for their dead ancestors on the yearly Obon holiday, their ancestors come back to the butsudan to greet them. So why a cow and a horse? Well, when the spirit is coming to visit the family, they want them to come swiftly to spend lots of time. So they ride a swift spirit horse (the sleek cucumber). When the h...

Kirifuri Plateau    Japan has the most hot springs in the world. With over 3,000 developed hot springs alone, you can throw a stone and hit one anywhere in the country. Whole towns known as 'onsen towns' spring up around sources throughout the country. The key word here is developed. The Japanese love hot springs and have wasted no time monetizing them. If you can reach it by road, it probably costs money. There are exceptions of course. Scattered around the country are free or abandoned hot springs that can always draw a crowd. What is extremely rare are undeveloped backcountry hot springs. Usually so remote and difficult to get to, no one even bothered trying to develop them. These are often not easily found on maps. They tend to be loosely spread throughout internet hot spring fan sites or word of mouth.  The hot spring I set out to visit was just such a hot spring. I had heard about it from a local driver. Why the secrecy? People bringing in trash and damaging...

  Nikko National Park is a vast expanse of mountains, forests, hot springs, waterfalls and ancient temples. Located to the north of Tokyo, it is a popular day destination. People love to see the UNESCO World Heritage Site and ancient shrine, Nikkō Tōshō-gū. The quiet forest behind the shrine is where the famous shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu rests. People come from all over the world to see the massive Kegon Falls, and Lake Chuzenji that feeds it. There are enough secluded hot spring inns scattered among the forests and mountains that you never need to visit the same one twice. This is just one side of Nikko. Photo by Reginald Pentinio   Behind this glittering facade that is close to town, is a much larger and less accessible wilderness. Getting to the backside can take hours in a car, winding around narrow mountain roads, and ducking in and out of small villages. Much of it is downright inaccessible in winter. For most. It is here t...

 Japanese paper is a personal fascination of mine. The soft fibers give it a unique and unforgiving surface to work on. It absorbs color and pigment deep into the fibers, making mistakes easily apparent, but also giving a vibrancy and saturation that other papers do not allow for. A while back, I had a chance to make my own Japanese paper (also known as washi ) deep in the mountains of Nagano.  Nagano is a remote mountainous province in central Japan. It contains 4 great mountain ranges and a number of Japan's largest mountains. In the old days, it could be quite a rough place to live. Farming was difficult with the harsh, long winters. People had to turn to other crafts and methods to earn a living. Forestry and silk manufacturing were both popular occupations. Paper making was also a way some of these remote villages earned a living.     Washi can be made from a variety of plants and fibers, but one of the most commonly used is the paper mulberry. The villag...

A farmer set up a blue tarp to block out some of the undergrowth  I would like to give a little depth into the story behind some of my works. I would like to start with a drawing I completed over the Japanese new year holiday. This drawing is from January 2020 that measures around 18x20 inches. It is pastel on Frabriano Tiziano paper. A typical osechi feast  Every year, in a massive exodus, Japanese people return to their hometowns. This holiday is the Japanese new year. People get stuck in hours of traffic, attempt to board sold out trains, and even hitchhike to reach their towns and villages far and wide. The holiday reaches its' zenith over the famed new year's meal of osechi . Osechi is a delectable spread of various small dishes that are precooked and everyone can sort of pick at over time. Lots of Japanese rice wine is drunk and general merriment is had. The holiday also allows for friends that have spread out across Japan and the world to come back and meet e...