The Ford Mustang is a sports car made by Ford, and it’s known for being fun to drive and easy to recognize. A 1965 Mustang convertible is an older version with the roof that can open, which makes it especially interesting for collectors. People talk about it because it’s a famous model from an early time period.
The BMW M6 is a high-performance BMW designed for both speed and comfortable driving. A “black on white” example refers to the car’s exterior and interior color combination. People may focus on a specific color because it can be harder to find and can affect value.
Land Rover is a car brand that’s famous for off-road vehicles. A Land Rover club is a group of fans who get together to drive and talk about those kinds of cars.
A 1961 Thunderbird is a classic Ford from the early 1960s. A convertible version means the roof can go down, and in this story it’s the car that inspired her to start painting cars.
“Chrome” is the shiny, reflective metal look you see on older cars. The “grille” is the front part with the openings—like a decorative front face—that you can easily paint because it stands out.
Term
reflections
Reflections are how light shows up on the car’s shiny surfaces. Artists use them to make the car’s shape look more dramatic and realistic.
The Audi Quattro is a sports car that’s known for having all-wheel drive, which helps it grip the road better. It’s especially famous because it competed in major racing events like Pikes Peak. People talk about it because its racing performance helped make it well known.
Term
exotic muscle car
This phrase is basically a mash-up of two types of performance cars. “Muscle car” usually means a powerful American car, and “exotic” means rare and special. Here it’s just how the guest describes the style of cars she likes.
Car
Ferraris
Ferraris are famous high-end sports cars made by Ferrari. They’re known for being fast and stylish. In this segment, the artist says she’s painted several of them.
The BMW 2002 is an older BMW sports car that’s smaller and simpler than many modern cars. People like it because it’s fun to drive and has a strong following among classic-car fans. It often gets mentioned when someone is talking about vintage BMWs they enjoy working on or collecting.
She also wants to paint Indy cars, which are race cars from IndyCar racing. They have a different look than regular cars, so it’s another new subject for her artwork.
Carbon fiber is a strong but very light material used in some high-end cars. It’s made from tiny carbon strands, and it often shows a textured “weave” look on the outside or on parts of the car.
It’s the idea of making a flat drawing look like it has depth. Artists do this by carefully drawing shadows and highlights so your eyes “read” the shape as 3D.
Blacked out trim means the shiny chrome-looking pieces on a car are replaced with dark finishes. It’s a style choice that makes the car look more muted or stealthy.
The BMW M4 is a performance-focused BMW, meaning it’s tuned to drive faster and handle more aggressively than a regular 4 Series. People may talk about it when they’re restoring or repairing one because it’s a desirable model. It’s essentially a “sporty” BMW built by BMW’s performance team.
The “F 40” is the Ferrari F40, a very famous supercar from the 1980s. People love it because it’s loud, fast, and feels very focused on driving—not comfort.
Amelia Island is a famous place in Florida where car collectors and auctions happen. Here, it’s where the Lamborghini award and the artist’s commission story took place.
A commission is an arrangement where someone pays an artist to create a specific work—here, a custom painting of a Lamborghini. In collector-car circles, commissions often reflect a buyer’s personal connection to a particular car.
The Chevrolet Corvette is a sports car from Chevrolet that’s built for speed and driving feel. People often talk about different versions of it, especially older performance models. It may be mentioned because it’s a well-known collectible sports car.
The Porsche 356 is an early Porsche sports car. It’s a classic collector car because it helped define what Porsche was like in its early days.
Term
electric this and that
They’re talking about the growing trend of electric cars and electric transportation. The point here is that while society is moving toward EVs, older cars are still being lost over time.
A Pontiac GTO is a famous older American muscle car. This one is a 1966, and the host is basically saying that driving it feels like capturing a moment in time before these classic cars disappear.
“Un-restored” means the car hasn’t been completely repaired and refreshed to look like it did when it was new. Collectors often care about this because it can change what condition it’s in and what it’s worth.
Rust is when metal starts corroding and breaking down. On older cars, it can damage important parts, which is why people worry about it ruining classic vehicles.
LIVE
Hey, it's Greg Stanley and welcome to the collector car podcast. I have a couple updates
I need to get to you real quick before we get to my interview with Shannon
She's a wonderful artist. So be sure to stay tuned for that
First off, I do want to hear from you. So most of you know, I'm a car specialist consultant
Worked with RM Sotheby's for years do a ton of evaluations
so if you ever want me to answer any of your questions whether that's from a valuation perspective just a particular car
I don't want to do. What's my car worth because half the time you'll either be too excited because I over-appraise it or
You'll be upset because I under-appraised it
You really have to see the cars in person in order to give an appropriate appraisal
So but if you want to know some general market trends have some questions about the market overall
If you have any questions about specific cars, I'll be great if there's an auction coming up and you'd like for my
Opinion on something that's being shown online
This part the beginning part. I usually do this the week of so for example today's Wednesday
This podcast is going out tomorrow to Thursday. I'm going to the Bear Jackson auction on Friday
So it's pretty timely now the second half the actual interview sometimes those are one to four weeks in the past
So happy to hear from you
You can reach me at Greg at the collector car podcast with any questions
If you do not want me to mention your name, please say that in the email
Now if you are on my newsletter, which comes out pretty much every Monday
you'll know that I said one of these has to go and I threw up a fun game show image of
My 65 Mustang convertible and the unrestored 66 Pontiac GTO and many of you do not know this
And I've got a lot of questions, but I did sell the GTO which is really crazy. So I'm going to do a nice fun
Email about that. I cannot share where it went to but I went to a great new owner
Family that likes preservation cars. So I'm very thrilled with where it is ending up
But as far as an update, I am on the hunt for something cool
I am looking at a black on white M6 here shortly
That's in the lead right now because the other cars that I am chasing they don't the owners don't want to sell them
So there's only so much you can do right one other car
I'm looking for is something that has a great story. So what made the GTO so much fun is
Sharing that story with the daughter of the original owners with their help on Jay Leno's garage
So I'd love to find something else that is of that caliber unrestored original family
So if you know of anyone or a family maybe that has a car wonderful story
That they would like for me to try to share it to the best of my abilities
I cannot guarantee you beyond Jay Leno's garage by any stretchy imagination
What I can guarantee is that I would share it through my channels
And I would try to get it on Jay's show if that's at all possible depends on how cool of a car it is honestly
They they get a lot of
Submissions you can imagine daily. So they're very picky as far as what they let on the show
All right, something new that I hope to launch next week
It's called guess the growl or guess the exhaust. I haven't figured it out yet
I'm going to have a fun game show for you guys and gals
I am going to have you listen to five or six different exhaust notes
And then you can guess I'll give you five or six choices and you can guess what they are
And then I will reveal them at the end of the podcast
So I did record six exhaust notes this last weekend
I question the guess the growl because some of them purred they were not growling or not all v8 cars
Which makes it fun. They're not all
US cars either which makes it fun. So I will give you five or six cars
I will give you five or six exhaust notes and you have to put them together
And we will reveal those at the end of the episode
So that is not happening this week because it's a lot of editing and I'm a one-man show
I do everything that you see here. All right next the book is doing tremendously well
You see I have it up on a couple little book stands. We finally figured out. Hey, we should put these on book stands
Was at the Duesenberg Museum this last weekend for a launch event that went tremendously well
They're great folks and then whenever through the eyes on design show
It wasn't a book launch event, but that was an incredible show as well
So I was able to meet a couple folks in person who contributed to the book Tim McGrane
Here's a nice picture of him. He was one of the judges and then one of the participants in a frequent podcast listener
Myron Verness. Hey Myron. Thank you for all your support and it was great to see you in person as well
So where will I be next? Well, I am headed to Bear Jackson this Friday
Which as you hear this is tomorrow in Columbus, Ohio, and then on Sunday
I head to the Ferrari National Meet up in
Monticello, New York
So I will be judging the 360 Modena's on Monday and then after that
I have to take a look but we will have a book launch event in California in LA at auto books arrow books
Tina set that up for me
Which is absolutely fantastic and then I will be at Keenling Concord elegance at the hangar party as well as the actual Concord event
We'll just have like 30 minutes or an hour in which I will be available to to personalize books
So if you're going to any of those, please look me up and then also I am on a few podcasts here
So you'll be seeing me out there a little bit more not just on this podcast, but on some other podcasts
I have a call with Matt the moderator here in
28 minutes for
Interview for that podcast and I will share all that on a future episode
So as always thanks for listening and thanks for watching and please support my sponsors
You'll hear their commercials here in a moment
And if you would like to explore the sponsorship of the podcast or the book or the new book the enthusiast guide to Porsche
Coming out in October
Please ship me note Greg at the collector car podcast calm and we will catch up with Shannon here in just a moment
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Private to learn more go to carport app. All right, welcome to the collector car podcast
I'm excited because as most of you know if you've listened to this podcast before I am a failed artist
So anytime I get to interview a real artist, I really appreciate they work they do so I like to welcome Shannon Fannin
How you doing Shannon? I'm doing wonderful. Thank you. Yeah, thanks for being on the podcast
Now we met I believe strictly through LinkedIn even though
Before I started recording we talked about we're probably at the same shows and I was admiring your paintings
Never knowing that I would eventually interview you or else. I would have said hello. So hello
Good now, where are you based out of?
Austin, Texas, so I am probably about
40 minute drive from the circuit of America's F1 track awesome
Yeah, so if you're listening to audio only
Shannon's in here kind of her art gallery with all sorts of wonderful pieces of artwork behind her very picturesque
So if you would tell us a little bit about what you do
What kind of artwork is it maybe some of the mediums and where we can find you off the bat usually ask that at the end
I'm like I need to ask that at the beginning. So I appreciate that. Um, I am a realist vehicle artist
I paint with
Highest quality acrylics and I paint with my fingers palms and brushes
I consider myself probably
90 percent
Abstract or 90 percent realist and 10 percent abstract. I like I said that the painting with my fingers
I love doing abstract areas with my fingers. So
Kind of blows people's minds when I I say that I paint with my fingers. So
Yeah, no, that is that is incredible and your artwork is absolutely beautiful. Um, I love so when I was
Struggling to become a comic book artist. I actually had a mentor who was a painter
His name is Brian Stelfries and he did like Batman for years and stuff and one comment that stuck with me
And I'll never forget it. He said if it gets the desired effect
I want I will use oatmeal like he didn't care what the medium was it just
Is it what I want from a visual perspective? Is that kind of how you work as well? Absolutely. Well before uh, I was an artist
I was a corporate marketing director homeschooled my kiddo for 16 years and he started college early
And I had a mural business for a while. So I like to paint large
and I kind of smeared paint and things like that
on the walls and
That just kind of transferred it to a couple of classes at a community college and had some amazing
Teachers and they said, you know, keep going. So and then
I I'll we'll get to the story of how I got into this, but I love what I do. I love getting messy. And so, yeah, you know
It's a fun job
Well, it's interesting. I always find the murals fascinating and it seems like there's more and more popping up in
Small towns that are trying to rejuvenate themselves and one of the easiest ways is to make the town look beautiful with these incredible murals
And I was always super intimidated because I always thought oh, I could do that, you know, and I'm like that's to me
That's really intimidating. Now when you do a mural
Is that grid artwork? Like do you project a grid and is that how you do it? Yeah, that is how you do it. Um,
I also uh, when I'm painting and I I'll show you right here. So I'm I've got four paintings
I'm working on right now
But this is a tablet that I use and then I will zoom in on my photos
That helps a lot too, but if I'm doing a large piece
Definitely grid it out. Um
And that helps and I also will turn my uh image and I'll turn my canvas as I'm painting
So I always tell folks that I try to paint what I see not what I think I see
So that's might be where you turn the image upside down. Yes
You know, you're making sure this line ends up at this spot. Let's say if it's in a grid and you're looking at a square
Versus oh this this bumper curves this way, you know, you're taking your opinion out of it, right? Right. Well, and um
I I consider vehicles whatever I'm painting a portrait and um, and especially when it comes to things that are
circular like
headlights or wheels tires
When you photograph most of the time, they're not circular
You're maybe at an angle and so it's an ellipse and so when I flip my image and I flip my canvas
I focus on that. Um, my husband, I both work from home and he'll come in at the end of the day. I go, uh
You know, you you rounded that tire like
And so that's why I try to make sure that I um
I really focus on the shape and and I try to take a photo every day after
I'm done in the studio and I'll look at it and I go, uh, you know, that bumper's wrong or that reflection doesn't look quite right
Or whatever and I will the next morning
Change it and and keep going with that. I I really try to um, that really helps too when I
Usually get about three fours the way done with a piece. It stops being fun and it starts being work
and and that's when you have to bring in, you know, maybe the decals or um
areas that you really want to punch and um, and that's sometimes that's difficult
And so that's why I usually work on three to four paintings at one time
So that if I get to a point where I'm incredibly frustrated
I want to set it on fire
I will put it away for a while and and jump to another piece
And I usually make notes of what what colors I'm using so that way I don't lose track. So
Yeah, I find it very fascinating and I do want to ask you some specific questions about paintings and
little techniques
from a broad trope
uh
pun not intended but
Tell us how did you go from marketing to
car art and have you always been a car enthusiast or walk us down that path?
I have not always been a car enthusiast. I grew up with a father who loves the lanyard catalax
And um, I was not into vehicles at all. My dad just you know kept him going and you know got something else
And when I got married my husband was really into vehicles
He was the president of the Land Rover club here in austin. Dad did a lot of off-roading things
and
When our kiddo started college, I of uber came empty nesters
I took a few community college classes. Not sure what I wanted to do. I was 45
so I had already done a lot of the things in life and
I was taking some classes absolutely loved it and my husband got a 1961 fourth thunderbird convertible
We still have we still have her. Her name is Maybelline
to
Yeah, well, she she's um, uh, she's cherry red black cherry. She's she's beautiful. Um, and so
We started going to car shows and my husband challenged me. He said hey
I've actually I have I brought it with me because it's oh good
Our dining room. So this is this is the first painting I've ever done with vehicles
Oh my goodness. I don't even see this. So it looks amazing. Thank you
So I didn't know anything about this and my husband we went to a car show and I
Met the people and that was the thing that drew me in was
The folks that I'd met and the stories that I heard and my husband said hey
Why don't you try to paint a car and I thought there's just no way that's just too hard and I tried and
that that
Well, you jumped right in there with the chrome grill. Yeah
Yeah, well, yeah, and it's funny because I've never um, I've always loved art
But um, I got a scholarship to be a special needs drawing teacher got married and didn't even finish one semester college
but um, I I love reflections or something about reflections and uh, and then when I heard stories about vehicles and
The passion that people have at these events. Um, yeah, so it kind of all just came together. So that was in, um
The fall of 2014 and in February 2015. I thought this is one I want to be when I grow up. So
Here I am. Wow, that's amazing because when I look on your website, you're not drawn to one particular genre. I mean, I'm looking at
You know rally racers to a martini 9 11 with a duck tail to a gulf oil for gc to an old
patina pickup truck to gtr the original hakusuka
To a bichlaren f1 like I love your diversity f1. I love the diversity of what you're painting
How do you pick? Is it commission based or is it passion based or is it a little bit of both?
Like you paint what you want and you see if someone wants to buy it
Yeah, it's a little bit of both. Um, I will say we'll go to an event
A lot of times I'll go we'll go to an event and something really speaks to me
It might be of course, you know meeting the owner, but then it might be something like
A reflection uh with clouds look um, just something the style
Some vehicles are just so sexy some vehicles have just
Timeless looks to them and so something I really speak to me then it'll also be to uh, I'll need to do something
And I don't know what to do and so I'll go in and we have thousands of vehicle
Photographs that we've taken over the years and we try to travel and take lots of photos
And so some people speak to me and I'll go oh and then usually I will crop it in in photoshop
I don't usually do the entire vehicle. I will sometimes but I try to
capture maybe an area that I find particularly amazing or
The design or reflection color things like that. It's it really speaks to me
But I also do commissions, which is are an honor. I almost look at our vehicles as family members
Oh, wow. Yeah, that's really cool. Now, which is
So I'm thinking from a technique perspective which is easier to paint because I have my own opinion
uh rust
chrome
or glass reflection
For me, it's I love chrome. There's just something I love that crazy chaos that you see
um, the funny thing is is uh, I
I have a lot of folks who have asked me over these last 11 years. How do you do what you do and I
Will tell people I started off drawing eyeballs
um, then I went to what?
glass water and then mirror and chrome is mirror
And everything around it is very distorted. I mean, we all know what like a tree looks like or building or whatever
But when I'm painting them in chrome or reflections in glass
Um, it all has to be distorted and because if I do draw
A building the way we our brain knows you're gonna know that's wrong because it's not gonna bend the way it should be
You know in the reflections of the car the chrome or whatever. So um, yeah
It's fun. I love that craziness
Yeah, like I'm looking at specifically. your the queen's ascent pikes peak
1985 out of sport quattro and I just find like the
Reflections in the windshield because it's a clear piece of glass
You're trying to paint a clear piece of glass
But you're capturing that by painting some of the interior
But also the stuff that's reflecting in the glass. I mean that's got to be really difficult, right?
I mean it is but I paint I when I'm doing paintings. I usually do
Glazes so I do layers
I'll probably do. I don't know 20 30 layers
Um, and the one thing with glass we all know what an interior of a vehicle looks like so I kind of have to give a hint
But then depending on the light outside the windshield you might see reflection of a tree
There was a 2002 bmw that I did that I absolutely
Adored the the crazy craggly looking branches that were in the reflection
So you can just see a tiny hint of the seat on the inside
Right, you'll see mostly the the reflection of the tree in the glass. So that's real fun
Wow
All right, so since you've drawn a little bit of everything painting
What has are you gravitated towards a particular brand of car old car new car 70s 80s?
exotic muscle car
European like have you gravitated towards something in particular?
I've actually painted quite a few Ferraris. Um, I I have to admit I have a bit of a soft spot for ferrisant and vintage alpha rameos
um, love 2002 bmw's
Um, that's just there's so many vehicles. I have some people have you painted this have you done this like there's so many
Give me give me time
Um, I I really do love vintage vehicles, but um being here in austin we I'm a big f1 fan
Um, I want to do more
Muscle cars. I want to do more f1 cars. I think I'm gonna do a series of some f1
vehicles
Indy cars, you know things that I really need to you know, um, I need to branch out, you know
I'm always trying to do a branch out and do more
um
Yeah, I
Part of it too is getting out and and photographing. I really try to either myself or my husband will take photos of our vehicles
I don't want to use someone else's images. And so I have worked with photographers before for my uh, actually
Mercedes
AMG red red pick I had someone on reddit
Fall in love with my work and hey, I went to the museum, you know, let's do this. Let's barter and so we did but
Um, yeah, I there's just so many vehicles, but I have to say I have a thing for classics probably because we have our 61
Okay, yeah, it's probably a bit of it. But there's just there's something well
And I will say um painting classics is easier for me than painting. Um
Hypercar supercar if you think about it, there's they don't really have chrome
I was gonna say chrome is huge. Yeah. Yeah. And so they got they got, you know, the carbon fiber and they've got and that's all
shape and shadow
Whereas um, which I mean if you really think about it, I'm trying to be a magician. I'm taking a 2d
Uh surface and I'm trying to trick your brain into thinking it's 3d. Mm-hmm
That's challenging. That's challenging. And so when I do um supercars hypercars racing
I have to do a lot more of the layering
To give the effect of depth and shape and shadow. So
Yeah, I want to bring the chrome back. I've never been a fan of like blacked out trim
I mean, I'm growing
Yeah, a little more accustomed to it now, but I've always liked the chrome myself. I know I have something for it. Yeah
Yeah, but a lot of my collectors they own the supercars and the yes the racing vehicles like I said here
With circuit we have a lot of folks who you know, they'll put their vehicles in their garages there at the circuit or outside the circuit
And they're always racing but a lot of supercars. We have a huge supercar group
Here in austin. Oh, yeah, for sure. Yeah
Now, how did you transition from like your traditional brushes to your fingers and hands?
How does that come about? I know so when um, when I was taking some uh community college art classes
I took um three classes of life drawing where are you drawing dudes?
And I was actually drawing drawing people
abstractly and I was using soft pastels and
smearing
I love that and so I think that kind of transition and that working with murals and and larger than life
um images and then also using the pastels and smearing I've always been a messy person so
I made mud pies as a kid
How you doing for fun?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love it. So um, I wear either uh overalls or wear uh hospital scrubs and I get it's like pajamas and I get real messy
I love it
So I've always loved uh, I like to do charcoal drawing and part of that is smearing and smudging
But I hated it the next day because you're sneezing, you know up the lack stuff because you inhale the charcoal
I mean, there's just just what happens. So, um, that's amazing
So when like you want to do a piece of artwork because everything's pretty much
I mean mostly like you said you don't do full-on shots. Uh, you did the a team van full-on shot
But yeah, yeah, how do you pick the detail? Do you like walk around the car until you
See exactly the angle that you're looking for. Yeah. Yeah, um, you know, that's pretty much it that 18
18 van was a commission
Um, and that one was really fun. They with that. Uh, I wasn't able to uh go and photograph it myself
So my collector sent me I think was like 10 photos and then we we talked about, you know
Some graffiti on a wall in the back with the family, uh, initials
Oh, that's cool. Yeah, no, so that was real fun. Was that the actual 18 van or was it when they come? No, no, um
M4 restorations in uh, San Antonio the gentleman who owns is a friend of ours and they as wife is a surprise
Commission that and that was he sometimes will take uh, he did he's did that. He did um, the, uh, wagon from
Christmas, uh, what was it? Oh, what was it called?
Christmas story. Yeah, no, not christmas story the christmas vacation that oh, yeah, national anthems christmas vacation
So he did that just uh last year finished the um dumb and dumber
Oh, yeah, the big dog. Yeah, so fun. So fun. And so he brings those to events. Um,
You know, radwood and things like that and um, yeah, so that was one that he did
And I think he sold that since then to a collector. But yeah, that's a piece of art to me
Vehicles are rolling pieces of art. And so he he takes it up a notch
Yeah, yeah
Well anyone who's listened to my podcast for a long time knows I don't have a ton of representation from women
Part of that's because it's the automotive world we're in
um, have you had any like
advice
for someone who would like to get into to the industry that maybe
Has a non-traditional career career path such as yours. Yeah
For me, I'd say so I've been doing this 11 years now
It probably took me about five years before people realized I'm not a groupie
You know, I'm not there just to have my picture taken with an amazing lamborghini or whatever. I'm here to
photograph
And I'm I'm really passionate about and I think that is probably get in get go to places and go to events
Where you're going to see what you're what you're going to be creating from and get to know the the owners
um, I'm constantly learning about vehicles
I'm at a point now where I'll see something drive down the street and I'll I'll say, you know, that's a you know
Whatever my husband will go. Well, you're close, but you know, or is that is that this year and whatever?
And so um, I'm constantly learning about that. There's so much my problem is I will fall in love with the vehicle
For whatever reason, you know the owner
Just because I love the look of it or whatever and then I will create it and someone will look at it and go
Oh, this engine is this and this and this. Did you know that or they'll ask me about the designer of the vehicle and to me
I
Tried to honor whatever that vehicle was by bringing it to life on campus. I don't usually know the background
Uh during the pandemic though
We did have some time where I did a youtube channel
Where I would talk about one of my paintings and the vehicle then inspired it and it was great because
Um, I had all this extra time everybody had time on their hands
And so I was doing research like I've learned um, the royal enfield motorcycle used to be you know dropped to the troops
That's so cool. You know, and so I learned about the de havelin beaver
airplane how you know
It's a plane that goes out into the middle of nowhere and and you know brings food and medicine things like that
So I learned a lot about it and I wish I could do that with all of my vehicles
Um, sometimes the owners will tell me which is great because they're always so right. Yeah
And you know, why did why did you buy this vehicle and like, oh, you know, my dad and I
We you know, we built this engine or this was my first vehicle or whatever
I've always had a poster on the wall of that f 40 and now I can have one
You know, so um, yeah
Yeah, yeah, was there one particular painting where?
Uh, whether it was a comment from a client or at a car show
That you felt like you really
It was like a turning point in your career like all right. This isn't just a hobby now. This is this is my, uh, new career
Yeah, actually there is uh, so it would be a uh, I did a four foot painting of a 1951
Truck that I had seen at a car show loved the grill
That's actually one of my dream cars. I don't know why it just it looks like it's smiling and um
I had someone from the austin bergstrom international airport
Say I could put it in the airport, um, which was wonderful. They do they do that for artists here
And so I had done that um the very beginning of uh, 2016 had it at the airport and someone called me and said
I saw your painting at the airport. Um, we are doing an auction at amelia island. We want to bring you and all of your art
I had like
Oh, gosh, it had been about eight paintings with me. Uh, they all expensive pay brought me out there. Um
And uh, I had an art show while they were doing this auction live auction and during that event
I had a gentleman who was being awarded. Uh, his 19. I believe it's a 1961
Let's say lamborghini murrah. They were um, um, amelia island was uh,
they were giving awards out and and
special presentation for
lamborghini
During that time they had all the colors, you know, bright orange and fluorescent green and just so beautiful
And gentlemen came to my show and he had the green murrah and he said, aren't you do painting?
So gotta
Took out a bunch of money and had to be cashed and there you go
And it was that moment where I thought this is surreal
This is surreal because at that point up until then I had friends
I had a relative that even said she says, you know, women paint flowers
and children
Why do you want to do that? That's you know, and I would I would show my portfolio portfolio and it's like, uh,
You know my thing and to me
It's exciting. They're exciting. There's so much passion about vehicles
And so at that point when being asked to go out and have a solo show during amelia island
in 2016 and having a gentleman that was being awarded by lamborghini and and uh,
Amelia island to just say right then and there. I want you to you know, do commission of my my lamborghini. I thought, okay
I guess this is it. This is yeah, this is what I want to be
Yeah, this is it. So yeah, I was very fortunate to have my work in the airport
And the funny thing is real quick, uh, as a turnaround, uh, 10 years 10 years later. Yeah I just got a, um
Commission or the airport again. They're building a new arm of the airport
I got dude big walls. So you're gonna see my work there in 2030. So now is that a mural?
Uh, no, they're not gonna allow us to do murals. Um, what uh, since I'm a 2d artist
They're wanting us to kind of incorporate a 3d aspect. So I'll probably find a the company that, um
To take my work. I'll be doing probably paintings have them scanned and we'll probably put it into
Glass or tile something that uh, they want it to last at least 25 years
So not yeah, so well
Not to say my paintings don't last that long anyway, but little guys, you know rubbing their hands on
You know banging things with suitcases and that sort of thing. So yeah, that's pretty exciting. So I feel it's like full full circle
Yeah, that's very exciting. Especially getting into like a international airport. I would assume is austin. So
Now I got to ask you because I asked you earlier and I forgot to follow up
But what is the website where we can learn more and see your wonderful pieces of artwork?
Oh, yeah, it's um shan fanon.com. So fan fan lbn the description as always
Now you mentioned you are working on I think you said four different pieces right now
Is there one that's really got you excited as you could share a little bit about? Well, I'm doing so I'm doing uh,
Ferrari from uh, I don't know what the vehicle which one it was but what I loved about it
It was it had just rained so there's gonna be water droplets. So there'll be a little cussing while I'm
All those water droplets
I've got a z28. I've got uh the back of a corvette and then I'm also working on something silly
I just finished 24 foot paintings
Of pedal cars
Actually, oh, I saw that on your website. Yeah, I don't know if you can see can you see I see a
Kid's tricycle. Yeah. Oh, no. No, I don't know if you can see it. Well, hold on. Oh, I can see it over there. Yep
Yeah, I just did too
Um, yeah, so I just two of those so I'm doing a tricycle which I just got out of what we call blocked in stage
So now all the colors kind of laid down and now I start doing layers and layers. There's so I'm doing that
Yeah, and then I also have
a
See a Porsche
At 356 that they can need to do and I'm also doing a very large
um
For an f1 event in october. Um, yeah, so and there was a there's a I can't really say but there's a race car driver that
Flying out to photograph
One of his been oh race car. Oh something secret going on. Yeah. Yeah, so yeah, there's there's a couple things
It's funny. I have I have all these things on the horizon
I got asked about two solos next year and I thought okay, I got a plan
I got a plan and so little things coming up and so it with the with the airport thing
I I've never worked with an organization where you work with a city or a government agency
And I never I never realized that it's it's wait. Wait. Okay. Hurry up. Wait. Wait. Wait. Oh, right. Yeah. Yeah
Yeah, and so I'm at that
Waiting stage. Yeah, that's amazing. Yeah, it's gotta be frustrating
Yeah, I get that so
Well, I appreciate you being on the podcast one last question for you and you might be able to answer this
But why do cars matter to you? Obviously you have made them a subject of many paintings of your entire painting career
But why did they matter to you?
I think they are an extension of a personality
um
Not only that I kind of consider myself almost a visual historian of vehicles
And it's kind of like if you think about it when we had the horse and buggy and they were everywhere
And then vehicles came along and then they got sequestered to one area you can't be out on the road
and so I almost feel that
our
Vintage vehicles are going to be that way
You know, we're all going that way of electric this and that and you know public transportation and things like that
So here in Austin, we have the Waymo
Taxis and there's Teslas everywhere and things like that. So I almost feel that when I capture something on canvas that it's almost
A record of something that might not be here forever
Yeah, I totally agree. So I
You know, I was a little late to this interview because I picked up my unre-stored 66 Pontiac gto
And uh, it's sold. I actually sold it to a collector who I can't say who but I'm very happy with where it's going
But as I'm driving that down the highway
You know, I had the same thought like this is a snapshot in time
This isn't going to last forever even with the best of you know
Like you're going to lose classic cars every day through different reasons
Whether it's rust or an accident or whatever
and as I'm driving down the highway is
Nothing bad happened, but all of a sudden I saw this huge dust cloud in front of me
It looked as if a car was running off the road losing control, you know, and I'm like, oh my gosh, what's going on here?
And thankfully it was not and I eventually caught up and of course, you know, I'm in this classic car and
Um, you know, it was a truck full of dirt or something and every few every time
I went over a bump it just laid out dust
I'm like, oh man, I just got a big detail that I'm driving home right before it sells and there's dust clouds
I'm driving through so
To your point it is like a snapshot in time that won't be here forever
And uh, you know, I'm I love that you appreciate it from our artistic perspective that you share with others
Yeah, I try to it's like there's uh, what was it?
80s 70s
I guess it's 80 but they did the cash for junkers
Oh, yeah, all the where they got rid of so many vehicles
And now, you know, you'll see movies and you know that you like how did you find that car?
You know or whatever because there's a lot of that those cars from that era that are gone
Yeah, and so yeah, and so that's why when I go to events and I see something that's really interesting or a great story
Whatever I want to photograph it and hopefully get on canvas later on so other others can appreciate it because
We don't know how long what we're driving now. It's gonna be there. So
Well, thank you so much for being on the collector car podcast. I really appreciate it. I loved being on it. Thank you so much
About this episode
Shannon Fannin’s realist automotive art takes center stage, from her grid-based mural transfers to how she photographs and paints chrome, glass, and reflections—“I’m taking a 2d Uh surface and I’m trying to trick your brain into thinking it’s 3d.” The conversation connects her process to collector-car culture: commissions, auctions, and why cars are “an extension of a personality” and a “visual historian of vehicles.” The host also shares appraisal realities, recent sales, and a new “guess the growl” exhaust-sound game.
What does it take to transform horsepower, history, and emotion into fine art?
This week on The Collector Car Podcast, I sit down with internationally recognized automotive artist Shannon Fannin to discuss her unique journey from car enthusiast to acclaimed vehicle painter. Known for blending photorealism with abstract elements, Shannon's work captures everything from classic American iron and European sports cars to motorcycles and aircraft. Her paintings have been exhibited around the world and are found in collections across North America, Europe, and Asia.
We discuss how she developed her distinctive style, the challenge of capturing reflections and movement on canvas, the stories behind some of her favorite commissions, and why automotive art plays such an important role in preserving car culture for future generations.
Whether you're a collector, enthusiast, artist, or simply appreciate beautiful machinery, this conversation offers a fascinating look at the intersection of art and automobiles.
The Collector Car Podcast features expert interviews, great collections, and market insights. With 25+ years of experience, Greg helps enthusiasts navigate the collector car world with confidence.
