Shannon “Shan” Fannin was born in Long Beach, California. She earned a college scholarship to pursue an art teaching degree for special needs children education. However, life had other plans. She put becoming an artist on hold for marriage, a career in marketing, owning a business, and homeschooling her son for 16yrs. Using her portfolio for a resume, she taught elementary school art for two years through a private academy.
After a 25yr hiatus from an art career, Shan returned to school to refresh her abilities. She took a handful of community college courses to reacquaint herself with mediums, and began building her expressionistic style. Her favorite courses were figurative life drawing.
When her husband added a 1961 Ford Thunderbird to their family garage, she began attending car shows with him. She enjoyed meeting other car/motorcycle owners and talking about the history of their vehicles. Mesmerized by the reflections and sleek lines, Shan made the correlation between their bodies and the figurative drawings she had been making. When her husband encouraged her to paint a vehicle, she took on the challenge wholeheartedly by painting an orange GMC truck. From then on, she knew that being a vehicle artist would be her future. She became a professional artist in February 2015.
Over time, Shan created large canvas paintings up to 6′ long, and is working towards painting larger than full size vehicles. She paints reflection segments for each work with her fingers, palms, and brushes. Many categorize her work as Photorealism, and occasionally boarding on Hyper Realism. However, Shan prefers the balance of 10% abstract/90% realism in her paintings.
Shan’s large paintings are created in high quality acrylic paints primarily by Liquitex and Golden (also using Matisse and Lukas for her backgrounds). She is a great fan of color, and enjoys bringing chrome and carbon fiber to life. She strives to connect with her viewers/collectors on a personal level by depicting vehicles from their past, or those they wish to own. Her goal is to be one of the finest vehicle artists in the world.
Shan has been awarded multiple times including Best of Show and Finalist for international exhibitions. She has received Honorable Mention and purchase awards with exhibitions within the USA. She is currently represented by fine art galleries within the USA, Canada, and UK. Her goal is to take her art around the world to galleries, museums, and collectors.
When not painting, Shan shares her marketing knowledge as a guest writer for magazines. She is also an avid runner, spinner, and classic movie fan. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband of 33yrs and their two rescue dogs, Ella and Bennie.
