"Cabbage" by Lana Johnson of Come Alive Studio, oil paint on canvas, 12x12, 2015 (original sold, prints available).

ON THIS PIECE:

"We grew our first garden the first year we lived in Arkansas, and this is a painting of the sole cabbage we harvested. I was so captivated by the deep hues of green and purple that merged so well together. It felt like we worked too hard and too long to just pluck the fruits of our labor from the ground and eat them for dinner. I started documenting our evening harvest with photographs so I could capture through paintings the beauty and intricacies of the food we grew."

ARTIST BIO:
Lana Johnson is a visual artist currently living in Little Rock, Arkansas. She grew up in the tiny town of St. Francisville, Louisiana and studied painting at Louisiana Tech University, where she graduated with a fine arts degree in 2011. She married her husband in 2013, who shares her love for nature and travel. After spending some time in Juneau, Alaska, they landed in Little Rock in 2015.

Nature and process have always been the center of her inspiration. Her hope is to create art that manifests the beauty and intricacies of the earth. In a world where we often look from one thing to the next to fulfill our wants and needs, she strives to create art out of the discarded, overlooked and fleeting objects of everyday life. Her desire is not to add to the consumerism of our culture, but instead create beautiful, timeless and useful artwork that can be enjoyed for years to come.

Over the past several years she and her husband have lived abroad twice in Paris, France, and have added two girls to their family. Her medium of choice has shifted from oil paint to watercolor, a medium she finds particularly hard to control and understand, which mirrors her new role as a mother. Her current work reflects a mixture of inspiration from nature, travel and motherhood.

Find Johnson's work locally at Box Turtle, Bella Vita Jewelry and Gifts, Arkansas Historic Museum and Nexus Coffee and Creative. Look for her online at comealivestudio.com, on Instagram and on Pinterest.