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Homes

Artist frames homes' essence, character

John Canning's paintings of tropical homes are studies in light and shadows, and they are catching on with art lovers.

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published August 19, 2005

OAKFORD PARK - John Canning combs the islands of the Caribbean in search of the perfect architectural detail: a pair of turquoise wooden shutters, French doors thrown open to the salt air, an aging wrought-iron balcony, a vine-tangled picket fence. In St. Martin, he spent days on foot, wandering hillsides, alleys and side paths, looking for the ideal Creole-style house to photograph and then paint.

"I capture the essence of a house," explains Canning, who is 38 and a sixth-generation Tampa resident. "It's all about atmosphere and chemistry; natural light and shadow. It's as if the house is actually talking to me."

Canning's brightly colorful paintings and prints of tropical homes have caught the attention of professional athletes, international clients and the art publishing house, Winn Devon, which will soon publish posters of Canning's paintings. (His paintings sell for about $5,000 for an original and $500 for a hand-embellished, signed print.)

Recently, the president of a tile company was browsing in the Frame Place and Gallery, a Northdale shop that frames Canning's work.

"It really made an impression on me," says Damien Lavallee, president of DaVinci Tile, which is headquartered in Tampa. "We do a lot of business in South Florida, and I felt his images would do well down there."

The company carries a line of artwork by 27 artists including Canning. In a residential setting, the mosaic-style images can be used as everything from kitchen back splashes to weatherproof artwork in an outdoor pool area.

In particular, Lavallee says, he was drawn not only to the photo-realistic paintings of shutters and balconies, but also to the collection of hand-tinted romantic photographs of women that Canning photographs in the living room of his old bungalow-style Florida house.

"I think of them as figurative forms in architectural settings," Canning says of the black-and-white photos, which are hand-tinted in sepia and then transferred to archival watercolor paper.

Canning travels extensively as an artist and works out of a small, 1920s home in Tampa with a studio not much bigger than a walk-in pantry. A tiny adjoining bathroom also doubles as a closet. He practices drums in an extra bedroom (he plays gigs in bands in clubs around Tampa).

He grew up in South Tampa, went to Tampa Catholic and spent a lot of time at his grandmother's house in Seminole Heights. Most nights he's out on Bayshore Boulevard riding his bike; he loves to windsurf and sail.

He wears his hair long and prefers Birkenstocks to business clothes. But don't ask Canning if he's a local artist.

"I'm really not a Tampa artist. I'm a rebel who flies under the radar," jokes Canning, who lives in an old yellow, red and teal Key West-style house half-hidden by lush tropical greenery. A feral cat sleeps on the vintage rattan couch on the screened front porch; giant shell-covered urns salvaged from a demolition site flank the front door. In a way, his house looks a lot like those he paints, though probably by accident.

"I've always been fascinated by architecture. I'm attracted to the vintage and old rather than the modern," says Canning, who studied art, design and architecture at the University of Florida. "When it's old, you can feel it, you can see its character."

In particular, he's attracted to neighborhoods like Seminole and Tampa Heights, Safety Harbor and Old Hyde Park, where he spent a lot of time as a resident.

"When I was really young, I always had apartments there," recalls Canning, whose pub-style dining room table with its log-shaped benches came out of a now-closed Hyde Park tavern.

He has also traveled all over Florida in search of architectural inspiration, particularly to Key West, where he has painted the old gingerbread-trimmed homes with their pastel shutters and first- and second-story porches. He typically photographs an exterior first, then painstakingly creates the painting in his studio.

On his easel right now?

A commission from a couple married at the Columbia Restaurant in Ybor City, who wanted a Canning-style painting of the exterior of the historic restaurant.

"It's really in the very first stages," he explained as he studied the highly detailed photograph he was working from. He shot it at a beguiling angle in warm light, itself a work of art.

He's drawn to the colors and romanticism of the tropics, the deep pink of a bougainvillea bloom, the azure-blue of the water.

His interest in art and everything architectural was probably inspired by his family: His father makes custom doors and millwork; his lawyer uncle was a painter.

"My whole family on my mother's side is artistic," he explains.

As a child, his parents took him sailing and on trips to the Caribbean. Two years ago, his late mother told him that she thought he would find success on the island of St. Martin in the French West Indies. He took her advice, went there and started painting the old homes. Soon he landed a one-man show at the Grand Case Beach Club. An international following of collectors soon blossomed; clients who not only bought his work, but commissioned it, too.

"I've put a lot of work into my paintings from the Caribbean," says Canning, who will have another show at a St. Martin gallery in January.

"My travel is very important to me. I need to get back there on foot in the light of early morning or evening, walking the beaches, looking for the right angle of the sun."

On a house. With perfect sun-faded wooden shutters or French doors hidden behind a fan of palm fronds.

"It's the mystery of the unknown that attracts me," he says. "It's just as much about what might be on the inside of a house as what's on the outside."

[Last modified August 18, 2005, 11:46:08]