FRANK CANNAS  52 KRAMERS POND PUTNAM VALLEY N.Y.
             845- 526 3245
I am a New Yorker, born in the Bronx of Italian immigrants. My Father was from the island of Sardinia and my Mother from the Abruzzi region of Italy. I remember at six  years old being encouraged by my (usually stern) Fathers esteem for art.
“Poppy” found me at 7 years old  etching a fine design into my Mothers’ dresser with a pin. Instead of reprimanding me. he gave me a pad and pencil and told me.“This is where you draw. not on the furniture.”
I graduated from the School of Visual Arts illustration program in 1958 and apprenticed with the Illustrators Group. A group of some of the finest Illustrators in New York such as Tony Kokinos and Roy Anderson they produced full color paintings for advertising bill boards as well as magazine articles pocket book covers etc.Their professionalism and influence are with me to this day.
I joined Ross Art Studio in my first staff artist position. From 1960 to 1967, I was a staff artist at Equitable Life Assurance Society.

I spent 1967 to 1970 freelancing- producing illustrations primarily for school textbooks, book covers and children's books, for such  publishers  as Dell Books, Holt Reinhard & Winston,

Harcourt Brace & World, Western Printing, McGraw Hill, Rutledge Books, RC Gibson Co., and Random House and i produced Illustrations and designs for advertising studios.
From 1971 to 1997, I joined PhilipMorris Companies Inc,’s art department.illustrating full color posters for compny-sponsored horse, car, bicycle, sailboat, motor-cross races and tennis tournaments, also produced graphic designs for  company promotions and charitable

organizations. I was commissioned to do portraits for the tennis Hall of fame of Don Budge first triple crown winner and Virginia Wade. One of my posters was reproduced in a very large lighted sign and hung in Grand Central Station during the US Tennis Open.

I began to exhibit in 1981 showing in national exhibits  while still working at Philip Morris.
In 1992, The Artist Magazine featured my paintings with cover art and article about hard and soft edge painting . In 1997 i retired from my commercial art career and have been showing fine art in Galleries in New York, New Jersey, Washington, Ohio and Connecticut.
In May 2001 I was featured in Art Times News with a front page review of my show at Shahinian Gallery  by Ramond J. Stiener. Since1981 I have received over twenty awards from national juried shows. I am a member of the Hudson Valley Art Association and a former board member. My work can be seen at cannasart.com.

I have always painted for my own pleasure and love to paint outdoors.Now painting is my way of life,andI paint plein-air or in my studio at home.