Keaau artist Patti Pease Johnson uses vibrant colors and earthy neutrals that blend abstractly to create a spirited contemporary look on silk. Bold designs bring just the essence to the forefront. “The art involves color shift textures created from liquid dyes on silk painted in freestyle form, and plant shapes using the traditional wax tjanting tool method, both in 2-D and 3-D work,” says Patti. All colors are achieved with the four printing process colors: cyan, magenta, yellow and black, mixed either on or off the silk.

Soft pastel is her choice for capturing sea, sky, and landscapes during outdoor painting sessions. Studio still life compositions give her another venue of expression. She also shows her love of color through fashionable silk wearables of scarves and large capes. Her artwork has been featured in galleries around the state for over a decade, and found in many private art collections around the world.

“I'm exhilarated by nature's beauty and vivid colors, and relish a rock, a leaf or piece of moss as much as a mountain or the ocean. A passion for camping has remained with me since my childhood, and I’m grateful to my parents for instilling the art of noticing nature’s abundance and greatness,” she says. Her philosophy used during teaching classes in silk and pastel painting methods are based on a respect for each participant’s personal vision, helping them to accept their own creativity with grace. She presently teaches minimum of one 3-hr. session in silk painting (beg./int. classes) and/or pastel still life painting (beg./int. classes) per month at various locations throughout the Big Island.

Originally from Olivia, Minnesota, Patti did not pick up a brush for more that twenty years until 1995. Having moved to Hawaii in 1998 with her family of four, she is enthralled with the vivid colors available to her eye’s palette. Career paths have nurtured her creative skills. She was a national magazine co-owner, editor, graphic designer and marketing consultant, with a pre-career for a decade in the nursery landscape field. In 2003, her sister moved to the island and together they produce a line of painted silk/fabric related fashion and home accessories called Graceful Essence Fashions.

She says thanks to Maui watercolorist Dick Nelson for opening her eyes to the CMYK paint mixing method, and to Volcano silk artist Phan Nyugen, who in 2001, showed her the way of silk. “Georgia O’Keefe’s larger than life flowers inspire me, plus the early 1900’s German impressionist artist Marc Franz’s color choices intrigue me, and I love the watery landscapes of Californian H. Leung and his two sons. Pastel artists Robert McKinley and Kitty Wallis both were great teachers in their workshops.” She says her mission is to light people up with the colors of life.