For former longtime Catonsville resident Ed Johnson will mark the culmination of years of work on April 19 as he opens his first gallery show.
Johnson, 72, might, however, be more excited about the work of his most recent students than he is about his own personal success.
"It's amazing," he said recently of the paintings by the residents of the Westside Emergency Men's Shelter hung all around the shelter's cafeteria and entrance.
At first, Johnson said he tried to hang the work up in the halls of the building with tape. But when the tape wouldn't stick and the paintings kept falling down, he went out and bought frames to put the pictures in so they could be properly displayed.
"That's when 50-percent off coupons to Michael's come in handy," Johnson said, laughing.
For three years, Johnson has been spending a day a week at the shelter for homeless men, teaching a painting class.
The class usually draws a number of shelter residents who vary in both skill and style and want differing levels of input from Johnson.
The work, he said, not only provides a way for him to give back to the community, but also helps him grow as an artist as he helps the men mix colors and work for specific shades, textures and shapes.
He's become very popular among shelter residents and staff too. In addition to buying all the supplies for the class on his own, he keeps a thick folder full of works by former residents and photos of many of the men with their paintings. And he can describe without hesitation where each work came from and where the former resident is now.
"I would say he's a very interesting man," said one resident, William "Scotty" Bell, of Johnson.
Before he came to the Westside shelter, Bell said he hadn't held a paint brush or drawing pencil since high school. Today, he said, he paints every Monday when Johnson comes to the site for class.
He has gotten more confident in his own abilities, he said. But he still needs Johnson's help with mixing the paint to match the colors he sees in the stacks of photographs Johnson brings to the shelter each week for inspiration.
"Ed makes it interesting," Bell said. "He's a very good teacher."
Teaching is nothing new to Johnson, who now lives in Ellicott City with his wife, Patricia, after 40 years of living in Catonsville. Before finding painting, Johnson spent his career in education. For 30 years, he worked as a teacher, vice principal and principal in Prince George's County Public Schools.
"I felt like I was working 24 hours a day and I needed some downtime," Johnson said.
In 1976, while working as an elementary school principal, Johnson began looking for a stress reliever. He signed up for a painting class offered through Catonsville High School's adult education programs.
The class sparked a passion within Johnson that's stuck.
In 1995, he retired and began working part time as a student teacher supervisor at the University of Maryland, a position he still holds today.
It was around that time that began taking his painting more seriously.
Today, he said, he completes about 60 paintings a year and has won a number of awards at local countywide competitions.
His work includes paintings of baseball players, football players and portraits.
But it was his paintings that focused on nature that attracted Charlotte Brooks when she was looking for a new exhibit for the recently opened Agape Gallery space at Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church.
She had recently read an article in the Catonsville Times about efforts to preserve the Patapsco Valley, she said, and she thought that the work Johnson had done on images of the park would really resonate with the Catonsville community.
Johnson's work will debut on April 19. The gallery show will feature between 30 and 40 of Johnson's images of Catonsville's state park neighbor. It's a park he knows well, as he volunteers there regularly as a forest ranger. Though he doesn't paint on the job, he said, he uses the things he sees in the park as inspiration for his own art.
Brooks, who has been operating the gallery since the church decided to devote a large open space on the church's second floor to artwork a year ago, came across Johnson's paintings while visiting the Catonsville United Methodist Church. Johnson is a member of the church, and some of Johnson's paintings were displayed on the building's walls.
"He's very viable as an artist," Brooks said, noting that Johnson has been continuously working on projects in advance of the gallery opening. "I'm looking forward to seeing some of his new things."
After hanging the paintings Friday morning, Brooks said she was looking forward to the opening of the show. Many of the works they chose, she said, vary in style and in content with birds a major theme. Some of his works are done with brushes while others are palette knife paintings.
"I think it's going to be appealing to a lot of people," she said. "People can relate to nature and to animals."
His community service was also a draw for Brooks, along with his background as an artist.
"He is a person who does so much good in the community," Brooks said. "That's really fantastic and it's wonderful."
Brooks said she expects the show to motivate other people to pick up painting later in life. Johnson's evolution as an artist, she said, is visible in his work.
"He's also an inspiration to a lot of people who might want to just start painting on their own," she said.
Adding another layer to Johnson's excitement about he opening is the fact that he plans to donate any money he makes from selling his paintings from the show to the Westside Emergency Men's Shelter for supplies needed to get the men back on their feet.
He's never sold a painting before, though he has donated some to his local church, and he's hoping this show inspires some to buy his work.
"I get inspired by seeing what these guys can do," said Johnson.
The reward for him, he said, is getting to "see men accomplish something that they didn't think that they could do."
The show, titled "Finding Beauty in the Patapsco Valley," will combine two of Johnson's favorite things; painting and the park.
The gallery is on the second floor of the church and is open to the public on Sundays from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. Additional viewings are available by appointment.
Sales must be negotiated exclusively between the buyer and the artist. The church is at 905 Frederick Road .