About Shan Carmin Art

Hi!! My name is Shannon but you can call me Shan for short! I am a freelance artist that started my business in July, 2019, at just 18 years old!

Art has been something I have been extremely passionate about since I first picked up a pencil as a little girl. I spent all my extra time at school, passing time (or procrastinating, lol) by drawing on my exam pads and doodling all over my school books. I’m sure this comes as no surprise that art was my favorite subject, but I was especially excited to choose it as an official subject from grade 10-12. 

I had a hard time throughout highschool deciphering what I wanted to do with my life. All my friends had their minds set on what they were going to be whilst I just…didn‘t. The one thing I did know, though, was that i had a profound love for art and I wanted my life to follow in that direction. i first thought…art? what career can I make out of my love for art? I never had my heart set on studying after I matriculate. I never really knew what I would’ve studied anyway, I feel like studying art would’ve been a pointless degree, well for me atleast, because not only does being an artist never come with a guarantee but you also don’t necessarily need a qualification to pursuit it. Even with a lack of a degree, it’s what I realised I wanted to do with my life regardless…Art was my calling.

The defining moment for the start of my art career was weirdly, the passing of Johnny Clegg. I promise it will make sense! For those of you who don’t know him, he was a famous South African singer-songwriter, as well as guitarist and pianist. He was a breath of fresh air for the South African community and the news of his death caused a wide spread sadness in all those who knew and loved his music. Taking visual arts from grade 10-12, we were always given topics & themes to create art with, but after matriculating in 2018, thinking of things to draw became a tiresome affair. I reached a serious art block. So I created less. I saw the passing of Johnny Clegg as the perfect opportunity to honor him through a drawing. I spent 2 days drawing a pencil portrait of him, which I then uploaded onto my Facebook. I received an overwhelming amount of praise (which looking back, I don’t see why, the drawing was absolutely awful, lol!). I had also received two messages from people on Facebook asking me if I could draw for them. I wasn’t going to do it for free of course so I thought, why not have them pay me? They saw the potential in me and I saw the potential of what I could make of this. So I named my business, came up with some prices and posted it on my Facebook page.