What is the last mountain you climbed?
Elisa Johns:Mount Whitney.
TMN:How does a new series begin for you?
Elisa Johns:It starts with seeing something meaningful to me—a lake I just hiked to, a Rubens painting, a bird.
TMN:Among the paintings in this show, which was the hardest to complete?
Elisa Johns:“Feather Pass.” There were immediately passages of paint I became attached to and it’s scary to push yourself with a painting you don’t want to ruin.
TMN:What does your studio look like?
Elisa Johns:It’s an old courthouse so the space has a strange configuration. I like to paint in a nook beneath a skylight.
TMN:Favorite household appliance?
Elisa Johns:Immersion blender.
TMN:Last time you stood in front of someone else’s painting that you didn’t understand?
Elisa Johns:Well, it wasn’t a painting, but I just saw Charles Ray’s “Cyprus” at the Chicago Art Institute and although I understand the concept and the tree is beautiful, I don’t really get it. Maybe you don’t need to understand everything to appreciate it.
TMN:Have you ever made a painting for a hedge-fund manager?
Elisa Johns:No.
TMN:Do you nap?
Elisa Johns:Never.
TMN:What master of color do you admire?
Elisa Johns:Giorgione. He used such a vibrant palette and really innovated the use of translucent paint to build shimmering atmospheric color.
TMN:Composer you’re most similar to, artistically?
Elisa Johns:I completely relate to Vivaldi.
TMN:What are you afraid of?
Elisa Johns:Wind.
TMN:What trait do you least like in yourself?
Elisa Johns:Shyness.
TMN:What are your steps to begin work each day?
Elisa Johns:Get up, drink coffee, check the market, work out, make tea, turn on Howard Stern, mix paint.
TMN:What trait do you most admire in your fellow Los Angelenos?
Elisa Johns:Obliviousness.
