NORWICH – Johanna Lerwick, and wildlife and nature artist working in oil, was born and raised on a farm in upstate New York.

In Lerwick's mid-twenties she moved to Guam where she began to pick up the liking for photography. Soon after returning to the United States she began dabbling with pen and ink and in time she started painting oil, sea and landscapes.

“More of a hobby than anything else, she insists. I liked to create scenes that reminded me of my home, when I would miss the countryside I would paint it.”

In the years following her move back to New York Lerwick concentrated on raising her son and soon opened her farm-related business. Her love for animals continued as her love for art, although it would be another 15 years until she picked up her brushes.

Over that 15 years a lot of things in her life changed and when the time came to start painting again came, she knew it. In the time she had stepped away from her art, she had traveled throughout the United States, she had gone to Africa on Safari, she had gone to the depths of the Amazon, and home again and then she knew; it was time.

When she painted decades before her subject matter focused on sea and landscapes. By the 1990's, when she decided to take a renewed look at her desire to paint, she knew this time she would broaden her subject matter to include her passion for wildlife. Today, she continues to paint nature and wildlife scenes.

Since 1992, Lerwick has produced hundreds of paintings and has been showing and selling her work throughout the upstate New York region. Most recently she was a finalist for Artists magazine's 31st annual Art Competition.