Songfacts®:

• I don't remember
  Life before she came into the picture
  Brought the beauty I was missin' with her
  Showed me colors I ain't ever seen
  
  "The Painter" is a tender love song where Cody Johnson sings about how his darling wife Brandi has brought color and joy into his life. He also thanks her for being the "painter" who has helped him to see the world in a new light.
• Got every sunset that she's ever seen memorized
  Saves them away for a rainy day or stormy night
  
  Benjy Davis, Kat Higgins and Ryan Larkins wrote "The Painter," but it feels like a page right out of Cody Johnson's own storybook. When the Texas singer-songwriter first heard the song it reminded him of Brandi. Speaking to Apple Music, he explained his wife "has this uncanny memory," like the woman at the center of the song's story.
  
  "The song is like, 'She's got every sunset that she's ever seen memorized,'" he said. "There's different types of men in the world, and I am very much just a 'man' man. I'm a little bit rough around the edges, and even worse, I'm a cowboy. She brings the color to what is, for a cowboy, just a black-and-white world most of the time."
• With every wall I built, she saw a canvas
  I thank God every day for how He made her
  
  Johnson's favorite lyric in "The Painter" is "for every wall I built, she saw a canvas."
  
  "If there's anything that describes my marriage with my wife Brandi, it's that line," Johnson said. "And that's why we've been together for 15 years."
• Trent Wilmon produced the track. Wilmon has been Johnson's producer since his 2011 album A Different Day.
• Johnson released "The Painter" as the lead single from Leather via Warner Music Nashville on August 11, 2023. The song is a heartfelt ode to Brandi, a reminder to all to cherish the special moments we have with our loved ones.
• This is the first song Johnson recorded where he sings in his talking voice. "I intentionally tried to stay out of the way of the song, so the listener could paint their own image, and have their own interpretation of it, he explained to Billboard.
  
  "But for me, obviously, it's about my wife," he continued. "Without her, my world wouldn't be what it is. We've been together for 15 years, so we've had some real highs, had some real lows. We've been through a lot together. She has stuck with me through thick and thin, and I think she deserves for me to be able to say this song is for her."