Carl B Johnson – CBJ Art dot com
Nothing quiet on the Western Front
The second book I published, after my own, was a gift to Morel “Mo” Pagano. It too was a compilation of articles originally published in Inferno newspaper. It was titled Mo Knows.
The book was a surprise and a birthday gift to him.
I have never had traditionally usual friends. Usually only one or two close friends. Mo was in his 80’s when we met. He became Liz and my best friend in short order. Continue reading “Something Mo’”
Bar Exam – musings from the bar stool
It is almost ten years since I published Bar Exam – musings from the bar stool.
The book began life as a series of articles I penned for the underground arts newspaper, Inferno – no boundaries. Full disclosure – I was the publisher and editor of Inferno.
Bar Exam contains full color reproductions of my American Bar series of paintings, paired with the articles from Inferno, rewritten and reformatted to fit into the book.
This was the first of several books that I published.
Call me a skeptic.
The Superstition Mountains have a lot of legends and myths surrounding them. Or maybe they surround the myths and legends.
I have been fortunate to have met many of the old timers that grew up chasing the Lost Dutchman’s mine.
The Dutchman was neither lost, nor Dutch. He did find gold. He died, and his mine, which may have never been a mine, has been lost. Continue reading “Dowsing”
End of Shift
Acrylic on canvas
22×28
This painting was originally 28×30. Age has not been kind to the canvas. The stretcher frame warped and twisted, and I removed the canvas from the frame years ago. The canvas shrunk. Continue reading “Larry’s”
The Frosted Mug
acrylic on canvas
18×24
Circa 1998. The 13th Floor played at the Mug on many Friday nights. There were bars closer to home, but the Mug sort of became my home. Continue reading “Where it all began”
Whiskey Row Pub – Jannette
oil on canvas
8×10
It only took me four months to keep my promise.
Liz and I stayed in Prescott, AZ over the Christmas holiday.We stayed at the Hotel St Michael, at the very beginning of Whiskey Row. Continue reading “Whiskey Row”
The plan is – whichever one of us wins the lottery first is buying a place in Superior, AZ.
If you are looking for artists, real artists, not Sunday painters or art school has beens, but real artists, they are in Superior.
For 10 months of every year the Sonoran Desert, especially the Valley, is various shades of brown and tan with specks of green. The green, of course, being the saguaro, the prickly pear, the cholla and what we call grass.
In spring the ocotillo will sport crimson flowers on their shafts for a few weeks. After monsoon, of course the green desert grasses overtake the barren landscape. But the expanses of green are rare and short. Continue reading “Colors of Spring”