On the Town: Young artist’s message – ‘be powerful and happy’ By: Lillie-Beth Brinkman The Journal Record January 7, 2021 Lillie-Beth Brinkman Verdean Thompson Johnson has been drawing since fourth grade, but he reluctantly became a painter two years ago when a teacher at Douglass High School found a worn canvas in a supply room and encouraged him to pick up a brush. At first, the 19-year-old artist didn’t want to. He said painting to him felt like a loss of control – the spreading bristles of a paintbrush weren’t going to match the precision he felt when the sharp point of his color pencils touched paper.