Born in 1934 in Ojai, California, Johnson became involved with art while at Ventura College, studying there with Jack Baker, William McEnroe and Barney Dietrz. He attended the University of California at Santa Barbara from 1955-1957, where he studied under Howard Warshaw, a very influential painter and theoretician. Eventually Johnson became Warshaw's teaching assistant.

Although originally influenced by the schools of abstract expressionism and cubism, some of Johnson's first public works were figurative murals. These murals, based on photographs of the American assault on Pork Chop Hill during the Korean War, were painted on the commissary walls at Fort Ord, California, where the artist was stationed while serving in the U. S. Army. Later when he was stationed in Paris, he taught arts and crafts, and studied painting and etching with Andre L'hote. He also had a show at Gallerie de Seine.

Johnson returned to the United States and had immediate success as a painter. He was selected that year for the "Los Angeles and Vicinity" show at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, where his work was shown alongside Edward Moses, Peter Voulkos, and many others.

The artist had a one-man show at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art and also won the prestigious James D. Phelan Award. As a result of winning first prize in a statewide competition that culminated in an exhibition at the Palace of Legion of Honor in San Francisco. He was briefly profiled in Art Forum that year. Johnson participated in-group shows in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Pasadena and Long Beach Museums. He won the purchase award of a "Watercolor USA" competition and the St, Louis Museum of Art, bought his winning piece.

Johnson entered a period of intermittent activity , focusing his energies on restoring and printing the etching plates of noted American western artist, John Edward Borein.