WENDY ROBERTS

Wendy Roberts started painting under the guidance of her father from the moment she was old enough to hold a paintbrush.  As the daughter of quadriplegic artist Wendell Johnson, she watched her father work on a daily basis, learning not only the root skills of oil painting, but experiencing his perseverance through adversity. One of her favorite pastimes as a young child was to look through his art books which were full of large glossy reproductions of masterful paintings from art history. Surrounded by art and art history, she decided to pursue painting and grew under the mentorship of many talented art teachers and professors, earning a BA in Fine Arts and also picking up professional level computer skills. Shortly after completing college, she married Jeremy Roberts and began her married life by moving eight times in ten years through six states including Utah, Colorado, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, and Texas before finally settling on Oahu in 2010 with their two daughters, Sora and Elysia. During these many relocations, Wendy worked as a multimedia designer, taking her artistic skill into the digital realm, but at the time of the move to Hawaii, she was able to return to the easel and paint again, this time building her professional career as an oil painter with the additional skill to apply precious metal leafing.

Her paintings bring to mind the saying, "It's not what you do, it's the way that you do it." With an emphasis on technique and archival quality, her paintings cover diverse subjects with an emphasis on painterly realism. One of her strongest motivations is to familiarize the community with the delicate beauty of Hawaiian birds and plants in the hope it will lead to increased support for conservation efforts, thus, she often revisits gem-like indigenous forest birds as subjects to help encourage interest in their preservation, often writing educational text to accompany the pieces on social media. She also creates landscapes celebrating the beauty of wild spaces, and portraiture/figurative works that are becoming increasingly imaginative and narrative in nature, delving into fantasy elements (ie mermaids).

Wendy has participated in numerous exhibits throughout Oahu, as well as helping organize several large group shows for community art groups in recent years.She has served on the board of Windward Artists Guild and Association of Hawaii Artists and is a current member of both groups. Additionally, she is a member of the Portrait Society of America, and an Associate Member of Oil Painters of America.Her award-winning artwork is in private collections throughout the U.S.

Follow Wendy on Instagram: @wendyrobertsfineart