Born and raised in the Midwest, Jeff Johnston discovered a passion for drawing young in life. In his earlier years he focused mostly on wildlife, fresh water fish, and birds of North America. During his high school years he became interested in designing plant life with unique shapes. He has painted close to a dozen mural-sized primitive and imaginative acrylic landscape paintings. One such mural was commissioned by his high school, Badger High School. He continued his education at the Massachusetts College of Art where he concentrated on the study of light and color. There he worked exclusively from an actual subject, both indoors and outdoors.

In 1985 he earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). Here he concentrated on the figure and studied with the landscape legend, Robert Skaggs. Known for fostering avante guard artists, Jeff found that SAIC nurtured his more traditional styles as well.

Shortly after he was invited to participate in the Union League Club of Chicago's show "Big Shoulders - Views of Chicago" exhibition in which two of his cityscapes were juried. Subsquently, two of his figure studies in oil were juried in the Illinois Small Painting Exhibition at Western Illinois University.

Always keeping art at the forefront of his career he worked on television storyboards in the advertising field and traveled as a recruitment representative for SAIC in which he interviewed high school students, reviewed portfolios, made recommendations for admission and Merit Scholarship awards. He has also taught art technique at both Home School and Adult Education Centers.

Mr. Johnston has continued to be a regular participant in numerous exhibitions in various local libraries, art centers and shows throughout the Midwest and Massachusetts. Today he has many pictures in private and corporate collections. He often exhibits in group shows throughout southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois.  He is a frequent exhibitor at the Anderson Art Center in Kenosha, Wisconsin.

Though he has experience in a variety of mediums including charcoal, oils, color pencil and pastel, the latter has proven to be his favorite. The common thread that is present in all of his pictures is that of quality of light and color. He often chooses a landscape scene because he likes one or two colors and enjoys the challenge of capturing the light, time of day, season and weather ... all before they change, typcally within an hour. He strives to convey what the day feels like. It may be via sunlight warming a roof of a house or barn, or the leathery undersides of oak leaves while being blown upside down. His 'artwork is a result of what I see and find interesting just as it is. For me, the challenge is to render a subject faithfully, simplifying it with big bold strokes of color while keeping details to a minimum. The attitude I have toward art is that beauty is everywhere.'