“It was terrible,” said Johnson of the painting. “It was so bad. But some of these guys in the locker room were icons I grew up watching … and they came up to me afterwards and told me how good it was.” That was a turning point for Johnson – the praise from his heroes made him realize, essentially, that his painting skills must not be half bad. Unbeknownst to him at the time, that portrait and his teammates’ reactions planted the seed for his second career as a professional artist.
