Books by Cathy Johnson

During a dusty Midwestern drought, Cathy Johnson stumbled upon a cool, limpid pond in northwestern Missouri and fell in love. Scraping together their savings, she and her late husband bought the pond and the surrounding 18 acres of land—a “naturalist’s playground,” as she describes it.    In this richly detailed account, Johnson introduces us to the timid white-tailed deer, iridescent blue dragonflies, velvety meadows, deep, quiet old-growth woods, and steep limestone and loess hills carved by prehistoric rivers or piled high by receding glaciers. Gradually overcome with a long-held desire to build her own cabin in the woods, Johnson decided to raise a small structure that fits the landscape hand-in-glove, where she could retreat to observe the astounding beauty of the wilderness.        Filled with fascinating geology and natural history, this intriguing narrative will inspire you to see beauty and adventure in the great outdoors wherever you are–and to put the foundations under your own dream. Readers interested in related titles from Cathy A. Johnson will also want to see: On Becoming Lost (ISBN: 9781635615609), The Nocturnal Naturalist (ISBN: 9781635615647), Painting Nature''s Details in Watercolor (ISBN: 9781635615654).

Best-selling North Light author Cathy Johnson brings her special voice and instruction to the growing movement of artists taking their sketchbooks out into the world to sketch wherever they are.

Make your first steps in watercolor fun and rewarding!Watercolor's vivid colors and fresh, direct brush strokes make it the most exciting way to paint. "But," you think, "Learning to paint must be hard and frustrating." Not with Cathy Johnson as your teacher! Here, she makes learning to paint in watercolor fun-even easy!With Painting Watercolors, you'll learn to paint by picking up a brush and painting-not by reading about a bunch of confusing theories.Cathy tells you everything you need to begin-including: • Which tools and materials you should buy to get off to a good, affordable start • When, what, even where to paint • Explanations of watercolor terms (such as "washes" and "puddles") • Easy and useful painting tricks-such as glazing and drybrush.Exercises help you loosen up and learn the ins and outs of putting paint on paper. Easy-to-follow, step-by-step instructions show you how to paint water, believable skies, a variety of trees in different seasons and other popular elements. Plus, a dozen demonstrations show you how paintings come together, from initial sketch to final brushstrokes.With Cathy's help, you can start painting right away!