About California Watercolor

At the age of nine, I discovered a large tin box in my grandmother’s garage in Los Angeles, CA.  In the box I found a vast amount of old letters and pictures, including daguerreotypes, tintypes, land deeds, water rights and diaries.  I discovered that my ancestors were early California settlers who had come from New York during the California Gold Rush.  This youthful experience started my fascination with not only my heritage, but all things related to California.

I bought my first painting by a California artist in 1965, shortly after graduating from high school in Santa Ynez, California, thus starting an obsession that has lasted over forty years.

In 1991 I became an art dealer on a full time basis, while at the same time continuing with my various collections.  I dealt in American oil paintings of the nineteenth and twentieth century with an emphasis on the California painters.  Realizing that I would become the world’s worst art dealer, as I hated selling these wonderful oils, I tempered this problem by collecting the “California Scene” or “Regionalist” watercolors.

Over the following years I was a contributor and sponsor of many museum exhibitions of the California Regionalist painters.  Although I attended many opening night parties, I always liked to go back on a following weekend when the general public viewed the show.  I wanted to see their reactions and listen to their genuine comments about the art.  One of the comments I heard over and over again was, “These are such wonderful paintings.  I wish I could afford one.”

Starting in 2002, I have worked to satisfy that wish.  We digitally scan the original work of art at high resolution, and print with the finest inks and papers available (we use Hahnemuhle’s William Turner archival paper, acid free, pH neutral, 310 gsm, and Canon inks rated at 120-130 years).  We have become experts in color correction and are able to match even the subtlest colors in an artist’s palette.  We print our giclées one at a time using a twelve-color printer. Once printed, each giclée is embossed with an official California Watercolor seal of authenticity.

We now have over 1000 beautiful works of art for you to choose from, and are continuing our quest to add new and exciting watercolors to our inventory on a regular basis. We hope you will enjoy this art as much as we do.

Michael Johnson

Until recently, public access to this artwork has been limited to museums and local gallery exhibitions. At CaliforniaWatercolor.com, the very best in California watercolor art is now available at an affordable price! Browse our gallery now.
 
Be sure to visit our Art Books section to improve your overall knowledge as your collection grows. Please note: the majority of these books are "out of print".

We add new artists, paintings, and books to our site on a regular basis, so please be sure to join our Email list to be notified of future additions.

Thank you for visiting, and enjoy the show!