Following a varied early artistic education which led to a stint in Paris studying academised cubism under André Lhote, Johnstone’s true personal style began to take shape and emerge in the 1950s coinciding with time spent under the sensitive tutelage of Cecil Collins. Hitting her artistic stride at this time, Johnstone began to paint her signature pastoral scenes which emanate a lyrical folk quality and recall the pastoral woodcuts of William Blake alongside Collins’ lexicon of mysticism. Characterised by a quality of whimsical innocence, the overall feel of Johnstone’s work is often compared to that of her lifelong friend Mary Fedden, this can also be seen in the colourist sensibilities held by both artists, albeit using quite different palettes. In some of her works, as in the present example, allusions to cubism gently surface, with patchwork hills depicted in blocks of vivid and unexpected colour.