We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Caney Hummon. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Caney below.

Caney, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

It’s hard to pick a single project as the most meaningful when there have been several that come to mind and meant the world to my clients and to me at the time. When a good friend of mine tragically lost his sister and asked me to draw a graphite portrait to give to his parents, it about ripped my heart out. Fairly recently, one of my mom’s best friends was diagnosed with cancer and another close friend of theirs commissioned me to make a painting based on the dream and poetic words of the sick friend, to give her strength in her time of need. And I couldn’t talk about meaningful work without discussing when my friend who is basically a brother lost his father to covid, and his mom, who has treated me like one of her own over the years, commissioned a mural in her backyard as a tribute to him and the love they shared. Comparing projects like these feels like comparing grief and struggle. These pieces were so impossibly personal, and each meant everything to me at the time. When I first began professionally working as an artist, I thought of the commissioned side of the business as a hurdle I would have to jump and push through to make the personal work I really want to share. Over the last couple of years, I have learned otherwise. The personal work is more fun to produce, as it scratches the annoying and persistent itch I have in my soul to express my ideas, and it’s great to not worry about pleasing others while painting. However, I have yet to feel as accomplished in my own work as I have when talking to the people who my commissions meant a lot to. Maybe someday I will make a piece that expresses my own experience so strongly that it feels the same, but it sure hasn’t happened yet.

Caney, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I specialize in oil painting and graphite drawing, and I am beginning to branch into Augmented Reality projects (which basically means artwork that can move and change when viewed through particular phone applications). My time is divided at the moment (pretty much 50/50) between commissioned pieces I do for clients and my personal artwork. My commissioned 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 love the freedom I have in 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 do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I think that I just need art. Art has always been what I am best at, and it seems to be the only thing that makes me feel like I have expressed myself to the world at large. I want the world to see my art, and recognize something in it. On the technical side, that means I want people to say, “how the hell did he paint that?”, and, on the emotional side, I want people to feel something looking at my paintings. This is especially true for my latest work, which is all about internal experiences that we might share, and how although the space we occupy in the universe is physically small it can feel immense. As a “goal” all of those feelings equate to painting forever and seeing where I am in the end. I have no clue what that will ultimately look like, or if I will ever be satisfied artistically because there’s nothing concrete about it. I will probably die with a paintbrush in my hand.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Honestly, just interact with us! Obviously, buying our work is probably the most supportive gift you can bestow upon artists, especially early in our careers, but every time you like, comment, or share on social media, show up to an event, or just talk to us about our work, it really does help extend the reach of our art. Also, it just feels really good. It is difficult to keep putting yourself out there as a creative, and these things help us feel like we aren’t shouting into the void.

Contact Info:

• Website: caneyhummon.com
• Instagram: @caneyhumonart
• Other: TikTok: @caneyhummonart
  Reddit: u/caneyhummonart