Photo:Joan Almond

Award-winning Los Angeles portrait artist Johanna Spinks knows faces inside out. For years she worked as a top Hollywood makeup artist to the stars applying her artistry to many famous faces before they went under the lights.

Over the years she became increasingly frustrated by the demands of the business and decided to devote herself full-time to her love of classical portraiture - still painting the face, but from now on exclusively in oil on canvas.

"Years of applying makeup to all types of faces (from astronaut moon-walker Buzz Aldrin, to actresses Jean Stapelton, All In The Family, and Tori Spelling, Beverly Hills 90210) under every conceivable lighting condition have given me a solid grasp of the facial form," says Johanna.

Her work, which also includes still life and landscape, has won her national acclaim being featured recently in The New York Times, and earning juried recognition, awards and show acceptances from various art institutions including American Artist Magazine, Art Talk, Oil Painters of America and The California Art Club.

Johanna's affiliations also include Allied Artists of America, The Artists Fellowship of New York, The Players’ Club of New York, The Portrait Society of America (Johanna is proud to serve as its CA State Ambassador), and The Portrait Society of Atlanta.

Emily- oil on linen, 42 x 48

"I have always loved and studied every aspect of art but portraiture was a natural draw for me. There was just nothing else I wanted to paint. I am fascinated by faces and I study them all day long even when I'm not actually painting them, at the local coffee shop, at the drycleaners, at a L. A. Lakers Game, wherever...
"But painting a portrait is so much more than capturing a likeness. It is about a very delicate and sympathetic rendering of that person's essence and spirit for posterity and for future generations to see.

"And for me, that is where the real thrill and challenge comes in artistically. No one wants to see a dull soulless portrait however well it is painted. There are plenty of those on museum walls already. That special spark which brings tears to the client's eyes on delivery has to be there or you haven't done your job as a portrait artist. I want people to say 'Wow, you really captured the person... and it's also a great painting. Then I know it is a job well done.' "

Johanna steadfastly observes from her Malibu studio the grand tradition of oil portraiture after studying in museums around the world the works of the Old Masters from Frans Hal and Velasquez to John Singer Sargent and Lord Frederick Leighton.

She is particuarly grateful for the inspiration and teachings of modern day master Mr. Everett Raymond Kinstler N.A. ( painter of five U.S. presidents and over 50 cabinet members) with whom she has studied at The New York Art Students' League and The National Academy of Design.

Her classical oil portraits and paintings hang in both public and private collections in the United States, Canada, England and Australia.