Our Story
Making things
by hand
Canis Art is the work of Jon and Michele Canis — a photographer and painter working out of Midland, Texas. The work spans landscape photography across Alaska, the American Southwest, and the Cayman Islands; original paintings in acrylic and mixed media; and handmade salt prints.
What connects it all is attention. Both of us are drawn to subjects that reward close looking — a dramatic light condition, the weight of a ceramic jar, the branch structure of a cypress reflected in still water. The work is an attempt to hold those moments still.
Jon came to photography through a life spent outdoors with his family — exploring the beaches of the Cayman Islands, the Frio River, the mountains of Colorado, West Texas, and New Mexico. More recently he has turned to the alt-process of salt printing — one of photography's earliest forms. Light on silver on paper, developed by the sun. The practice is moving toward platinum and palladium, toward prints that outlast the paper they're made on.
Jon Canis
Photographer & Printmaker
Jon's photography spans decades of travel — Including much time spent in the Cayman Islands, the Mountains of West Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, The Frio River and most recently Alaska. He attempts to capture something extraordinary, peaceful or inspiring.
Since 2026 he has been working with salt printing — coating paper with silver nitrate and exposing it by contact under UV light. The process is slow, variable, and deeply satisfying. Each print is unique. He is working toward platinum and palladium printing, a process with museum-grade permanence and a tonal range no digital process can match.
View Jon's Work →
Michele Canis
Painter & Mixed Media Artist
Michele paints in acrylic on canvas, drawn repeatedly to florals, botanicals, and still life — subjects that reward careful attention and allow color to do its full work. Her paintings are warm and confident without being loud, made by someone who finds meaning in the act of looking closely at ordinary things.
Her still life work has a particular West Texas sensibility — Lucchese boots on weathered wood, cobalt jars alongside terracotta pots, the specific beauty of objects that have been used and kept. Her florals have a looser energy, impressionistic and alive with movement.
View Michele's Paintings →