Brenda Banda Johnson features a collection of bold, textured palette knife paintings that reach out from the canvas and invite you into the scenes they portray, both real and imagined. Every piece you find here is an original.  Brenda paints almost exclusively with large palette knives, and she finds vibrant and high-contrast colour palettes irresistible.  Brenda is based in Calgary, Alberta.

“With my palette knife and loads of acrylic paint and thick gel mediums, I attempt to capture the depth and textures of nature that intrigue me. I tend to use an “exaggerated” colour palette. The majority of my paintings are vibrant and exaggerated beyond what you’d see in nature, attempting to capture not just the visual image but also its energy and life.

Sunlight gets me every time – how it makes its way through branches, creates mesmerizing swaths of light as it passes between mountain peaks, creates an fluorescent glow filtered through a flower petal or a ripple of water, or makes the fur of a grizzly glow gold or copper.  I would say either capturing light or creating an impression of what it would be like “if” – What if it was sunset? What if this scene were backlit? What if the sun found a hole in the clouds over this mountain peak? – is my main focus. Light, light, light – that’s my swing thought from planning to finishing touches.  That usually means that I tend to use several images for most of my paintings – a scene from one image, lighting from another, an edited, more energetic colour palette, wildlife added in (or subtracted) – I take a lot of artistic liberties.” – Brenda Banda Johnson