Fly Fishing guide and artist Tim Johnson

"Field Research"

Tim has been drawing and painting fish for exactly as long as he's been daydreaming about fish... which is to say, pretty much since birth. But it hasn't just been artwork: Though he was born in the Arizona desert, fly fishing has somehow woven its way through his life in just about every possible way. In addition to being a life-long angler and now a full-time artist, Tim is also an Orvis-endorsed fly fishing guide at Utah's Falcon's Ledge, a contract fly designer, a fly fishing instructor/adjunct professor at BYU, and a Recreation Therapist who uses fly fishing (among other modalities) to help adolescents on the Autism Spectrum, veterans with PTSD, and others improve their mental health and overall quality of life.

When he's not in the studio, Tim is likely to be found on the river either with clients, with his beautiful family, or alone doing "Field Research": getting up close and personal with his subject matter. He revels in both the similarities and unique differences among fish of even the same species: An orange tip on a Madison River Rainbow's dorsal fin. A particularly vibrant blue spot behind a Brown's eye. The blood-red belly and dark mustache of a spawning Colorado River Cutthroat. These are things that make a fish personal to him, so that a Tim Johnson painting is not just of "a fish"... it's a painting of "his fish".