By permission of the artist, The Cyber Art Show is pleased to feature the first of two 12-piece exhibitions of works by American landscape painter Michael Chesley Johnson (born 1956 in North Carolina, USA).

Michael always wanted to be an artist. His mother loves to tell the story of how he once used crayons to color the image on their black-and-white TV set. Wishing to help this eager student, she purchased a drawing kit, Jon Gnagy's Learn to Draw, based on the popular 1950s TV series. Michael spent hours reproducing illustrations in Gnagy's instruction book in charcoal.

Michael also has always loved Nature. Fond of taking long walks through wood and field, during high school he read all of Thoreau, including the entire 14-volume edition of his journals. Michael joined the Thoreau Society at an early age and even wrote an article for their newsletter. Thoreau inspired him to start his own journal, which he has now kept for over 40 years. This love of nature finally led Michael to plein air painting. His first outdoor painting experience was in college, where he painted the river in the school's botanical garden, imitating Monet's Impressionist style. Today, the wild and beautiful occupy the core of his work, with the occasional human element added for contrast.

One of the country's top plein air painters, Michael works in oil and pastel in the American Southwest, coastal Maine and the Canadian Maritimes. He has been an invited artist to many national plein air painting events over the years and has competed in challenging locations such as the Grand Canyon.

Elected a Master Pastellist by Pastel Artists Canada in 2008, he is a Signature Member of the American Impressionist Society and the Pastel Society of America as well as a juried member of Oil Painters of America.

He is the author of Backpacker Painting: Outdoors with Oil & Pastel and Through a Painter's Brush: The American Southwest. A long-time contributor to The Pastel Journal and Contributing Editor for The Artist's Magazine.  Michael also specializes in teaching small-size plein air workshops in oil and pastel for the intermediate and advanced level painter and for painters desiring mentoring.

Michael continues to paint in oil and pastel, always choosing the most beautiful locations. Currently, he splits his time between Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, and Sedona, Arizona, in the American Southwest. But he is always on the lookout for the next beautiful spot.