iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 17/06/2026

Working on my #painting without working *on* my painting ("trust the process" and all, but I'd like to have a better idea of the process before I apply it to my canvas) #whalepainting #workinprogress #wip #spacepainting #behindthescenes

A photo showing some of my process for my painting inspired by humpback whales feeding and spiral galaxies. The bottom part of the canvas, resting on an easel, is visible at the top of the photo (dark background, columns of blue-green bubbles). In the middle of the painting are a pair of printed reference photos of spiral galaxies. At the bottom, taped onto a lap desk, is a piece of paper painted to look like a section of the spiral of bubble columns which are on the canvas. The top row of bubble columns on the paper has some paler streaks and dots added on top as I figure out how to make it look like a galaxy.

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Back to painting after a very hard winter and spring: I'm painting my favorite #whales again (humpbacks this time!) #acrylicpainting #humpbackwhales #workinprogress #wip

A partially completed painting of a pair of humpback whales, surrounded by columns of bubbles or lights that are arranged in twin spirals around a central lighter region where the whales' heads emerge. The whole painting is framed at an angle looking downwards so the whales' lower bodies and the height of the columns is visible. The background of the painting is dark, black, blue, and green mingled, and the bubbles and the spirals are in various tones of pale blue-green. The whales are gray outlines at this point in the process

An earlier stage in the process of this painting, showing just a spiral and my first attempt at developing the bubble columns

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

I've been working as a #breadbaker for 12+ yrs now. I've been seriously #painting for 5. It's taken me this long to get around to painting some #bread and I'm not sure why. (This is bread from my job! I mixed all and shaped most of it.) #acrylicpainting #bakeryart #foodart #sourdough

A long, narrow canvas painting of a pile of oval hearth-baked breads, the crusty type that comes from a bakery. The breads are various shades of warm brown and golden tan, with paler crust along the center top where the loaves have split open along their score line. Some of the loaves have fine white lines along their sides. For real loaves, this would indicate that they were proofed in a basket called a banneton, which has to be floured so the fully proofed loaf can be removed without sticking, ripping, and collapsing. A couple of loaves are coated in sesame seeds. The background is a deep teal color to play up the reddish and orangish hues of the crust.

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 11/10/2025

Fresh off the easel, here's my finished #whale #painting, with beluga and bowhead whales swimming (or flying) through the #glow of the #auroraborealis (now I just need to name it) #blueskyartshow #acrylicpainting #seaandsky #arcticwildlife

A large painting of a small pod of whales swimming (or flying, if you prefer) through an aurora borealis.

There are six bowhead whales (aka Greenland right whales), which are very large and have black skin; deeply curved jaws; a wide ridge on their head which ends a little behind their blowhole; a mottled chin patch in a unique pattern of white, gray, and/or black; and surprisingly small flippers for a whale of their size and bulk. To clarify what I mean by deeply curved jaws, the sides of the lower jaw come up on the sides of the head almost like a taco shell. The highest part of the mouth is higher than both the front of the mouth and the whale's eye, which sits behind it. One of the bowheads (towards the left) is oriented more towards the viewer, so the shape of the jaw is visible. One whale on the right is smaller and younger. The two whales on each edge of the canvas are not fully on it.

Also present, swimming around the bowhead whales, are six beluga whales, about a third the size of the bowheads. They are white (although here tinted green because of the aurora's light) with small beaks, short wedge-shaped flippers, and very round foreheads.

The aurora rises around and between the whales, starting a bit below them. The background where the whales swim is almost black, turning deep blue shortly below the level of the aurora. As it reaches the bottom, it lightens and shifts to a pale blue green, the way the seafloor looks in the images from submersibles. Some pale corals, fronds or round barrels or plant-like, grow at the very bottom on the lightest part of the painting. In the middle blue area, there are scattered small groups of teeny tiny fish, which partially blend into their background. At the transition from green to blue, there's a squid disappearing into the gloaming.

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 20/09/2025

I relied on the #angles of point perspective for this #painting for a friend who's obsessed with both #capybaras and #ancientrome #blueskyartshow #acrylicpainting

Painting depicting a courtyard styled after ancient Roman architecture, centered around a large statue of a capybara posed and dressed like the famous statue of Augustus Caesar. (More on this in the next alt-text.)

The building surrounding the courtyard has two stories, each of which has a columned gallery facing the courtyard, and a roof with deep red, curved terracotta tiles. The statue is on a rectangular plinth in the center of a pool (because capybaras spend so much time in the water). The pool is surrounded by a border of purple marble and mosaics of pale pink dolphins playing in the waves. The rest of the courtyard is off white, with a dark red border close to its edge.

The statue appears to be taller than the building behind it, due to its size and closeness. There is a line of bushes behind the pool between it and the building. The ones on the ends are larger than the others, with more branches and larger leaves; I intended to make them look like laurels.

Above all of this, in the top half of the painting, is a clear blue sky with a few wispy clouds.

Close-up showing more of the details of the capybara statue. It is standing upright, looking towards its right, with its right leg bent slightly forward. Its right arm is outstretched, bent at an angle upward at the elbow. Its left arm is down by its side, supporting a stole draped around its hips.

The capybara is dressed in a decorated muscle cuirass (breastplate), soldier's skirt of pteruges (leather strips that sit parallel to each other and provide protection for body parts which need to move, also seen attached to the breastplate's shoulders), and the aforementioned stole. The stole and the pteruges are red lined with gold. The breastplate is off white with gold decorations showing a palm tree with capybaras underneath and another tiny winged capybara descending from the heavens with a scroll or ribbon.

The rest body of the capybara is painted dark brown, although the tops of its shins, just visible in this close-up, are almost black, due to being shadowed by the rest of the statue above it.

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 10/09/2025

#Painting progress! Ft. masking tape used for masking so I can repaint bits of the background under my #whales It's nice to pick this up again after a month or so of very important knitting projects #acrylic #bowheadwhale #belugawhale #workinprogress

Photo of part of a painting showing a bowhead whale, a beluga whale, the outlines of two more bowhead whales, and the filled-in outline of another beluga whale

Photo showing the painting I'm currently working on, with several bowhead whales in various stages of completion from outline to almost fully painted, beluga whales as solid shapes with no details, and an aurora borealis around the whales. There are pale sponges and corals at the bottom of the painting as if they're growing out of the sea floor.

Photo of the same painting as previously described, but with more details on one of the whales on the left side and some of the background aurora repainted around the whales. The whales that are more completely painted are partially covered with masking tape to protect the details and shapes while I redo the auroras, since I'm basically swiping the paint upward from a rippling line and can't trim around more complicated shapes like flippers and flukes

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 30/07/2025

My show on Sunday went really well, but I'm excited to have time to paint again! I roughed in the next part of this #WIP I started back in June and am looking forward to #painting all the #whales over the next few days! (Whales are my favorite animals) #bowheadwhale #belugawhale #acrylic

My current painting in progress. The background transitions from black at the top through blue to a pale green-blue at the bottom, with corals and sponges clustered near the bottom of the canvas. The top has streaks of pale green extending upward from rippling horizontal strokes to represent the aurora borealis. On top of the aurora are the outlines of 5 bowhead whales in dark gray and 6 pale gray-green silhouettes of beluga whales, swimming toward the right-hand side of the canvas. There are no further details added to any of the whales, so everything looks kinda flat and hard to distinguish

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 26/07/2025

Two paintings of a blanket #octopus for #blueskyartshow #alternating. I learned, when I looked for reference photos, that they iridesce in darker water, so I had to make an alternate version of this painting for a #cephalopod loving friend. #sciart #acrylic #ocean #wildlife #painting

Painting of a female blanket octopus near the surface of the water, showing the long membranes between two pairs of arms that give the species its name. The octopus's body is relatively small and it holds most of its arms fairly close together while swimming. The arms with the "blanket" are held outward, and the blanket is 2-3 times the length of the rest of the body. A vague, broken reflection of the octopus can be seen in the underside of the waves above it.

Painting of a blanket octopus in dark water, showing how it iridesces against the blackness of the water. The blanket-like membranes between two pairs of the octopus's arms are 2 to 3 times the length of the rest of its body, and display a glowing pattern of lengthwise stripes with some dark dots on the outer edges

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 19/07/2025

Here's a #painting of a #waterlily with its #smooth and shiny leaves for #blueskyartshow. Figuring out the highlights on the leaves was surprisingly tricky #acrylics #handpainted #lotus #botanicalart #watergarden

A painting of a pale pink water lily and many lily pads. There are a few other flowers and plants growing up through the spaces between the lily pads, and the lily pads have dark shadows on them from those plants and taller ones which aren't in frame of the photo at all.

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 17/07/2025

Very excited to be doing my first #artshow in 10 days at #hudsonmart2025 in #hudsonohio ! I've been preparing my original paintings, prints, and coloring pages over the past couple of weeks, and I'm looking forward to saying hi to everyone who drops by July 27th, 10am-5pm Booth 66, Clocktower Green

Poster for this year's Hudson mART (those of you with screenreaders should note that the A R T in mart has been capitalized) taking place in downtown Hudson, Ohio, Sunday, July 27th from 10 am to 5 pm. The poster has the aforementioned date, time, and place, and goes on to list some of the other features of the market: art, crafts, music, food, and the "Art in Action" demo station, featuring a Sheep to Shawl event. There are pictures from past years' events and contact info for the organizers, which is as follows:

www.destinationhudson.com
Hudsonmart44236@gmail.com
www.facebook.com/hudsonmartoh

The sign I made for my booth! It's an unstained wood plaque with "Gwen Cannon Art" in large dark green letters slightly to the right of center. To the left is a brown squirrel wearing a painter's apron and a beret, reaching out with a paintbrush to paint the letter C

Sneak preview of some of the original paintings I'll have available at the show, along with matted prints and coloring pages. The two paintings are ones I've featured here before, the autumn planter and the Pothos tower. There's a print of an orchid on a bright yellow background and another of an aglaonema, and two printed coloring pages that are line drawings featuring an aquarium scene and a gnome tea party

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 22/06/2025

How about some #narrow bookmarks for #blueskyartshow today? Most of these went to friends during the pandemic, but the #bookworm design is from a few months ago #bookmarkart #bookmarks #acrylics #coloredpencils #sunflower #fairytaleart #octopus #bookishart

A bookmark painted with various sizes of sunflowers on a green background

Two bookmarks for a friend who asked for art with a fairy tale vibe. One has the silhouette of an armored figure standing on top of a cliff in front of a sunset sky with a small crescent moon in the upper right. The figure is holding their helmet by their hip and their hair and caps are blowing in the wind. The other has vines growing up over a wall surrounding a castle and a large vertical sign on the wall which reads, "Library." The castle/library has a stained glass window with a rose and a single lit window in a tower.

A bookmark painted with four pale pink dumbo or flapjack octopuses on a turquoise background. I wanted to give the impression that the octopuses are dancing together, so all of them are posed differently but reaching an arm towards the octopuses on either side.

A bookmark decorated to look like a section of wooden bookshelf. There's an book set on a display stand on the left with the title, "Life Cycle of the Common Bookworm." On one side there's a bookmark-shaped cocoon hanging from the shelf above, and on the other, there's a yellow worm with tiny glasses crawling on a vertical part of the shelf.

To the right of the vertical divider, there are books set with spines facing out, another worm, a butterfly whose body is the same yellow as the worms and cocoon and whose wings are shaped like the pages of a book, and a few clusters of tiny eggs on top of the shelved books. I tried to give the butterfly, cocoon, worms, and egg clusters a big of a soft glow surrounding them.

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 19/06/2025

Doing some work on a big painting this afternoon. I'm happy with how the background's turning out! #workinprogress #wip #painting #acrylic #blueskyartists #seaandsky #aurora

Photo of a large rectangular canvas with a partially completed painting. The base of the background is a gradient going from pale blue-green at the bottom through blue and indigo to black at the top. There are tiny white dots like stars on the darker part of the painting, along with some pale yellowish green veil-like ripples. At the bottom in front are sponges and corals like would be on the seafloor.

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 07/06/2025

A #vibrant #autumn planter from a couple years ago with coleus, lantana flowers, and Russian sage for #blueskyartshow. One of my favorite things about fall is how the gray skies make all the colors glow #plants #garden #botanical #acrylic #painting

Acrylic painting of a planter in an autumn garden. The top of the planter has a handful of plants with long leaves and tiny purple flowers in rows going down long stems (Russian sage). Below that are red and lime green leaves with distinct veins and toothy edges (coleus). Around the right side of the planter, forming an arc, are flowers made from clusters of tiny red, orange, and yellow flowers, with abundant green oval leaves (lantana). The background is gray with a faint cloudy texture

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 24/05/2025

#Charcoal tree from this past fall, for #blueskyartshow #lightandshadow. I sketched this over the course of a couple afternoons, and even though charcoal isn't my favorite medium, I'm happy with the results #drawing #tree #gardens

Charcoal drawing of a small, branching tree with clusters of leaves scattered across its smaller branches. The tree stands in a corner where two low stone walls meet. The light in the drawing is coming from the right, so all the shadows are cast to the left.

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 19/05/2025

Drew a mergnome for #mermay and I think he needs an animal friend but I'm not sure what. Please comment with suggestions #drawing #coloredpencils #gnome #mermaid #silly

A colored pencil drawing of a garden gnome mermaid. His hat is a conical spiraling seashell, his hair and beard are kelp, and his nose is pearly. His face is purple and has three gill slits on either side of his nose. His fins and tail are purplish with blue veining, and the scales of the fish part of his body are mostly purple with blue, green, and pink highlights.

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 17/05/2025

Painting of my sister's cats Phobos and Deimos, based on a photo she took, for #Blueskyartshow. I tried to keep my brush strokes loose to convey the #texture of their fur. #painting #acrylic #blackcats #caturday

Painting of two housecats, curled up and napping in a sunbeam. The cat on the left is curled up so that we can see part of her body and the top of her head but not her face, and the second is curled up so that her face from the side, forepaws, shoulder, and one of her back legs is visible. The left cat's tail stretches from underneath her to touch the right cat's paws. The sunbeam that they're napping in raises all sorts of amber, copper, and cinnamon highlights from their fur, to the extent that their normal black coloring isn't apparent

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 16/05/2025

Finished a set of #bookmarks for #Pride next month. I tried to represent as many identities as I could. The figures on the "We have always existed" bookmark are Sappho, Emperor Ai, Chevalier d'Eon, and Tesla (who may have considered himself ace if the term had been around) #lgbtqiap #lgbtart #puns

Photo of three hand drawn bookmarks, all done in colored pencil. The first has a silhouette of two women or girls holding hands and leaning in towards each other in front of a pastel gradient with the colors of the lesbian flag (stripes of dark, medium, and pale orange, white, and then light, medium, and dark pink). On the top it says, "Lesbian a love story together."

The second has a book open to the last two pages with a rainbow arcing up and to the right from each page to touch near the right edge of the bookmark. It says, "And they lived gaily ever after." "Gaily" is in rainbow letters.

The third bookmark has a rectangular radar dish which is striped in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Overlapping wavy lines in those same six colors converge on the center of the radar dish from all four sides of the bookmark. At the bottom it reads, "Pinging that gaydar loud and clear." (Gaydar is also written in rainbow.)

Three bookmarks done in colored pencils.

The first has two eyeglass-wearing worms reading a book together. The left worm is striped in the asexual pride flag colors (black, gray, white, and purple) and the right is striped with a pastel rainbow. The ends of the bookworms' tails are just touching and they are looking not quite at each other and blushing. The book they were reading has a yellow cover with the demisexual flag on the cover (black triangle on the left edge, wide gray stripe, narrow purple stripe, wide white stripe) and the asexual colors on the spine. There is text on the bookmark which says, "Bookworm is my type."

The second bookmark has an outline of a person filled completely with black, gray, white, and purple swirls and filigrees. The swirls coalesce in the shape of a heart where the person's heart would be. Their hands are posed in front of their chest as if they're supporting their heart in their own hands. There are purple and gray ribbons in the background and text which reads, "You are whole & complete as you are," followed by a purple heart.

The third bookmark has five arrows, all flexed as if in flight. The arrows point toward the upper right part of the bookmark and are various combinations of black, light green, white, dark green, and gray in color, which are the colors of the aromantic pride flag. The colors repeat in the background and text which reads, "'Straight' as an aro" (with sarcastic quotes around the word "straight".)

Photo of three bookmarks with colored pencil or pen and ink art in landscape orientation.

The first has an image framed within a shape made from two overlapping circles, like a Venn diagram or binoculars' field of view. There's a landscape inside the shape with a field of blue flowers, blue reeds, and a blue body of water in the foreground, purple mountains in the mid ground, and a pink sky with clouds and the sun setting behind the mountains in the background. In the right-hand half of the sky, there's a dark blue dragon. The colors echo the stripes in the bisexual Pride flag, and the text, which is split on either side of the image, reads, "Everything is more beautiful/through my bi-noculars"

The second bookmark has a row of books, as if on a shelf. The left third of the books are primarily deep pink, the center third are primarily yellow, and the right third are primarily a turquoise-y blue, which are the colors in the pansexual Pride flag. There's text above the books which says, "Don't ask me to pick A favorite"

The last bookmark is done in black ink and features drawings of people from various points in history. None of the people have facial features besides facial hair. There are two women dressed in Ancient Greek chitons who are kissing. There's a man with a topknot, mustache, and short beard in a simplified Chinese robe, cutting off one of his sleeves because another similarly dressed man is sleeping on top of the sleeve. There's a person dressed in the styles of rococo France, holding a rapier vertically in front of their body. Their right side is in men's clothing and their left is in women's. The last is a man in a Victorian suit, holding up 2 wires so a spark jumps between them. The text on this one reads, "We have always existed (even without modern labels)"

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 11/05/2025

Once again late to the #blueskyartshow (hopefully fashionably so). Here is a sketch of an epiphyte hanging on a tree and the painting I turned it into. If you recognize the type of plant, please comment, since I would love to know #line #painting #nature #botanicalgardens #plants #beforeandafter

A pencil sketch of a hanging plant (epiphyte) growing over some tree branches in the background. The vines of the epiphyte end in oval pods, some of which are topped with tiny flowers. The vines which don't end in pods also have flowers. The tree branches are harder to see because they're behind the vines. They have groups of 3 or 6 leaves growing from the same spot along each branch.

The finished painting from the previous sketch. The branches and leaves of the tree hosting the epiphyte are dark and almost backlit against a very pale gray sky. The epiphyte grows mostly downward and rightward. Its pods have a slightly ridged texture and are shaped like slightly pointy ovals. The flowers, which are red with yellow centers, are on the ends of vines or attached to the pods with a short yellow stem. There's a black and orange butterfly resting on a vine in the bottom left corner.

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 04/05/2025

Bridal Veil Falls in Bedford, #Ohio. The water itself (fortunately!) doesn't fit this week's #blueskyartshow theme of #green but the foliage does #waterfall #nature #outdoors #painting #acrylic #gouache

Acrylic and gouache painting of a waterfall. The waterfall, which is centered vertically in the painting, is relatively thin and cascades over many fine layers of rock, which it's carved into sort of a shallow gorge. The upper half of the waterfall has a fairly gentle slope, and the water zigzags from one riverbank to the other until about halfway down, where there's an abruptly steeper drop, which collects the water into a thicker flow. Both riverbanks are densely lined with trees and other vegetation, some of which extends over (trees on the left) or down (smaller plants on the right) into the gorge. Tree branches with summer foliage, extending from each riverbank, also fill the top quarter or so of the image

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Gwen Cannon Art @gwencannonart.bsky.social · 19/04/2025

Hi Bluesky! My name is Gwen, and I'm here to share my artwork. Please excuse the dust, since I'm still getting things set up. If you like anything you see, please consider checking out my Redbubble shop: www.redbubble.com/people/gwenc...

A pencil sketch of an artist's work table next to a window. In the center is an easel with a blank canvas. To the left of the easel is a water cup with paintbrush handles sticking out. Below the easel are more paintbrushes, a palette, and some tubes of paint. To the right of the easel is a philodendron plant.

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