Shano studied Art History at California State University of Northridge and University
of Utah, as well as a year of Fashion Illustration at The Fashion Institute
of Design and Merchandising in Sherman Oaks, California. (Which greatly influences
her style of painting) |
Artist Statement - Shano I have always drawn as a child, doodling in my notebook constantly: a notion that was continually getting me into trouble with my teachers. Many years later, directly out of high school, I attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Sherman Oaks, California which laid the foundation of how I create. Fashion illustration courses taught me to construct the croquis, or a figure that is 9 heads tall. In the year 2000, out of necessity, I decided to paint for a living. It was a rocky start and I had difficulty finding my niche and personal style. When the divas with their tall, elongated figures started arriving on my canvases, I discovered that I had a rather large patronage that were following my career. Naturally, this afforded me the encouragement needed to further pursue my artistic endeavors. I love to live vicariously through my divas. They are daring, impudent, vivacious women with scintillating lives in alluring locations. Always they are powerful, sexy, demanding, and audacious. They adjure many good friends whether it be a girlfriend, horse, cat or dog, and they always invoke emotion by the viewer. The most cherished aspect of developing my paintings is that it becomes a mind's vacation. These images literally come from nowhere and take on their own personality. When these divas arrive, it is as though I am welcoming a trusted confidant into my world. I start procuring my art on a red canvas. I then loosely sketch the figures in a light blue acrylic paint. Never in pencil- I have found that the art becomes to contrived and tight if sketching in graphite beforehand. My favorite tools to create with are my inexpensive brushes, which I abuse to perfection when formulating the multi-layered background. It is the pristine and well cared for shading brushes that allow the divas to coruscate onto the canvas. I am gleeful when these prismatic characters instill themselves into my paintings like long-lost friends. I always know a piece is done when colors have saturated and the divas' vivid personalities come forth and materialize. |
All images are protected by Copyright ©Shano. All Rights Reserved |
Other influences are: Tamara de Lempicka, Amedeo Modgliani, Gustav Klimt, Franz
Marc, and Marc Chagal, as well as fashion illustrators of past and present. |
Shano was raised in Alpena, Michigan and moved to Southern California at age 14.
After graduating high school she became a self-proclaimed gypsy living in
Santa Barbara, Sherman Oaks, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Antelope Valley, Palm
Springs, Park City Utah, and Salt Lake City Utah, and on to the Seattle area
where she now lives on Camano Island, Washington. |
Shano is married with two children- a girl and boy. She and her family
live on a small ranch with two horses (Arabian and Quarter Horse), a palomino
pony, six dogs (5 of which are Lassie Collies), two cats (Both Siamese, natch!), and two stupid hens who rarely bother to lay eggs. |