Artist Interview: Shannon Ryan - 2025 Painted Piano Project

Tell us about yourself!

My name is Shannon Ryan. I grew up in Manteca and spent some time moving around in Orange County. My husband Andy and I bought our first house in Lodi about 11 years ago and love raising our son, Garrett, here. He's an awesome little goofball and quite the artist himself.

How long have you been an artist? What are some other projects you have worked on?

My creativity and artistic passion has grown with me through life. As a kid I loved to draw and craft, in high school and college it became an expression of my personality. After venturing out on my own, my artistic passions started to define who I was.
I've shown at several galleries as part of group shows in Southern California from 2003-2008. Upon returning to Northern California, I was part of an Alameda art collective for a few years. Starting around 2010, my focus has mainly been on pet portraits, and I was asked to illustrate a children's book in 2019. It's called "City Cat Moves to the Country".
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Describe the themes and style of your art. Do you gravitate towards one style or medium? What is your favorite medium to create with?

I usually gravitate towards acrylic on canvas, but I also like to use watercolors and Prisma pencils. I think all of my art has a little bit of low-brow sort of flair. I'm really influenced by tattoo style art and I love pin-up girls although in the past few years I've shifted to more of a witchy, garden, cottage feel.

Who are your biggest artistic influences?

Pet portrait wise, I'm just doing my own thing. Some of my favorite artists are Sunny Buick, Jenny and Aaron from Every Day is a Holiday, Lisa Petrucci, El Gato Gomez, Mexakitsch, and Angelique Houtkamp.

Tell us about your painted piano design. What inspired it?

My pets are a huge part of my life. I wanted to do something to showcase our cherished best friends while helping out those still waiting for their forever homes. I asked friends, family and community members who might be interested in having their pets featured, to donate $50 to the Lodi Animal Shelter. The donor's names will be displayed on the back of the piano and I'll be including a list of contact information for the rescues their pets are from. Adopting rescue pets is very important to me. I've always had dogs and cats but Manny is my 'first born son'. I wasn't going to have kids, so he's named after my great-grandfather. We joke that he's a 'Portuguese wolf', but DNA testing says he's a German Shepherd, American Bully mix with a touch of Chow Chow. Either way, he's mommy's baby. Our other boys Jett, Arthur, Pickles, and Kylo are also featured.

What are your aspirations as an artist? What are your dreams as an artist if anything were possible?

I'd love to work with a friend on doing our own children's book. Other than that, I'm happy just doing fun pet portraits. This project was a pretty amazing opportunity.
If anything were possible, I'd love to have something I painted or illustrated in Disneyland.

Tell us about your other hobbies and passions! What do you enjoy besides art?

I love gardening! I've got a mini homestead set up in our backyard with raised beds, fruit trees, chickens and ducks. I think of it as a 'snacking garden'. As I'm watering and weeding, I find a strawberry, pick a peach, oh look a cucumber, snap pea, chomp, chomp, chomp. It is really rewarding to share the bounty with friends and neighbors. I enjoy cooking and it feels even more special when you've grown the food yourself. Canning spaghetti sauce, making pickles and relish are something I do yearly.
Flowers and herbs that I've grown are used to make bath products for my business Little Wolf Botanicals. My sister-in-law, Sarah Jones of Jones Candle Co in Oakdale, sells them for me. We work together to come up with bath products that are as natural as possible.

In 2018 we both became moms. Sarah has twin boys Axel and Austin who are just ten months younger than their cousin Garrett. We had both become way more aware of what we were putting in, on, around our family. Our kids love bath bombs, but they make a big mess, stain the tub, smell way to strongly and make our kids itchy. I came up with a recipe that is simple, made with essential oil and wouldn't cause alarm if your kid took a swig from the bathwater. Things expanded from there and I really love all of the products I make.

How can we find more of your art? (website, social media, upcoming shows etc.) Is there anything else you want us to know?

Instagram @littlewolfportraits, @littlewolf_botanicals, www.jonescandleco.com