"Douglas C. Johnson is a painter who explores the midwestern landscape with quiet exuberance. His long-term relationship with his surroundings in central Illinois provides the subject matter for his work. Using dramatic lighting, an expressive painterly style, and a sensual color palette, he creates paintings that reflect a reverence for and an expansive view of the American landscape in Illinois."

-Lisa Costello, Gallery Director at Parkland College, Champaign, IL

My paintings celebrate the Midwestern landscape, shaped by a lifelong connection to the prairies, fields, and skies of central Illinois. I approach each canvas with reverence for the land, seeking to convey its quiet beauty and expansive spirit through dramatic light, expressive brushwork, and a rich, sensual color palette. The act of painting itself is central to my practice—an exploratory process through which I examine the relationships between color and light and find meaning in the everyday, often overlooked moments of the natural world.

Painting is, for me, an act of discovery and a way to engage deeply with place. Through the physicality of pigment and surface, I translate emotional and sensory experiences into cohesive, resonant images grounded in traditional painting techniques. Each work invites the viewer to pause, to sense the life within the landscape, and to connect with the shared, enduring beauty of the world around us.

Johnson holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in printmaking and painting from Illinois State University, as well as a Master of Fine Arts in painting from Northern Illinois University. He has exhibited in Chicago at several galleries in the River North district and at the Chicago International Art Exhibition, and he maintains an active exhibition schedule.

His work is held in numerous private collections. He serves as the Executive Director of the McLean County Arts Center in Bloomington, Illinois.