Why Chairs?

Hi there. How are you?

One of the last pieces I made before my art-making hiatus was this chair. As my long time readers know, I have a real thing for chairs, and have illustrated them for years. Though this chair series started on a whim, I kept on drawing chairs because I find them profoundly interesting. Chairs have personality and style and often serve as stand-in for people in my work. 

With composition, text and even lighting, a chair can look sad.

Sad Chair Illustrations by Jennifer Johansson

They can be happy and lighthearted too.

Lighthearted Chair Illustrations

Most of all I drew chairs because they were fun to draw.

I like the way I could make them pop off the page with light and shadow. I liked drawing chipped paint and rust, spindles, and cast shadows. I also liked my patron's reactions to them. In the beginning, every chair I produced would sell within a year of it being made. That's really gratifying!

Even though I haven't been drawing chairs so much anymore, I still seek them out and photograph them when I'm out and about.

Here are some of the chairs I've photographed recently.

Abandoned Chair
Scratch Brewery
San Diego Coffee Shop

And here is the chair that inspired my most recent chair illustration.

I took this photo out at the home of our friends Kelley and Tom. I sure do love a good, worn chair! I decided to make the chair red, so that it popped from the background. It felt, good to make a chair again. Like riding a bike, it all came back to me.

This chair piece, entitled " The Livin' is Easy" is now for sale! Click the link below to snatch it up.

And one more thing...

Do you have a special chair that you'd like me to illustrate?  Do get in touch.  I love doing custom pieces.

Ta-Ta for now.