Today we’d like to introduce you to Caney Hummon.
Caney, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
My story starts with my parents because by the time my brain started making memories I was already drawing. They are both scary accomplished creative thinkers who set the bar really high by just being themselves, but who also give out love and support freely.
My mom, Becca Stevens, is a priest, talented craftswoman, writer, poet, founder of Magdalene House and Thistle Farms, and just, in general, is badass fighting for disenfranchised women and communities around the world. Then there’s my dad, Marcus Hummon, a songwriter and performing artist who won a Grammy, was inducted into the Songwriter’s Hall of Fame, plays like 15 instruments, writes plays and operas, and paints on the side.
So, naturally, they always got really excited when my two brothers and I showed interest in any new creative medium, and they snuck art into everything they could. We would go on vacation, for instance, and at the end of every day, our mom had us write little journal entries with drawings to match, which she would make into these massive binders.
I remember her telling me my drawing of the grizzly bear we saw in Yellowstone was particularly good and I’ve been chasing that high ever since. And, looking back at those binders, I’m even more grateful for that support because those drawings are just terrible.
As I have grown, my dream to become an artist continues to grow. Nothing else brings me the same joy, and the last few years have been about understanding what that means as an adult and as a professional. People can tell you a thousand times that being an artist will be a struggle, but you can’t really know what that entails until you try it.
Like with any business, there are a million learning curves and it is such a process as you slowly build interest in what you produce and you learn what is not going to work if you want to pay the bills AND eat. The pandemic is actually what pushed me to finally start working full-time as an artist when the world shut down and I could no longer work part-time at Taqueria del Sol.
I was pretty scared at the time, but it worked out because I have such a crazy strong support system between my friends, family, and partner. Since then, I’ve been painting/drawing like a fiend, and, although I am always at least a little bit stressed, I am really happy to be doing what I love.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The only time in my life I considered not being a professional artist was when I first went to college. I was struggling to identify who I was, like everyone entering that stage of life, and I decided that pursuing art wasn’t smart. For a lot of reasons, this ended up being the most difficult period of my life.
My struggles with mental health were coming to a bit of a head and my coping mechanisms weren’t great, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this was the first time that art wasn’t my outlet. Then, there was this real shift in my third year.
I suddenly realized art was what brought me joy and I went to therapy for the first time, and it all just sort of clicked that the only things keeping me from art were the same things that made me insecure and unhappy. I haven’t looked back since.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I specialize in oil painting and graphite drawing. On the commission side of the business, my work is mostly straight up and down realism, although the scenes can be complete fictional ones built from multiple references.
I do lots of portraits of people and their dogs, landscapes, and a couple of murals here and there. I care a lot about that work and bringing my clients’ visions to life, however, I am most proud of my personal work.
That work lies somewhere between magical realism and surrealism – depending on the piece. The focus lends itself toward religion and mythology, or on scenes that work with a dreamlike sense of reality.
In my last series, I analyzed different religious and mythological stories from around the world by placing them in modern settings. Throughout that series, I kept naturally placing deities and their influence above humanity in the clouds and I became obsessed with our relationship with the heavens above us.
My new series is focused on cloudscapes, and exploring how what we see and imagine above us is really a reflection of our own minds and souls. A psychologist would also tell you that this series is directly related to covid and escaping into your mind when the world is bleak.
What sets my work apart is my obsessive attention to detail, and the strong sense of narrative I carry with each piece. I love making pieces that are evocative enough to pull a story out of the audience, but vague enough that many different conclusions can be drawn (maybe that even reflects things about the person making them).
I have my own answers about the narrative, but I love seeing all the different responses.
What does success mean to you?
I ask myself this question a lot because it helps narrow down where you want to put your time and effort, but I think the question is, ultimately, about imagining yourself on your deathbed, taking stock of your life.
On one hand, there are accolades, the feeling of bringing my idea to life, selling a piece at a price that feels worthy of the effort I put in – and those do matter to me.
But I couldn’t care less about those things compared to the success drawn from the time I spend with my partner, my cats, my family, and friends. Their happiness, love, and support mean more to me than any accomplishment artistically. It’s not even close.
And I don’t see this as a cop-out answer that diverts away from the idea of success as an artist, because I think going through life pursuing those other things would lead to stale, uninspired work from me. I learned a long time ago that I can’t make art if I am not grounded in those things that drive me the most.
Contact Info:
- Email: caneyhummon@gmail.com
- Website: caneyhummon.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/caneyhummonart/
