The pandemic forced a photographer to re-focus his artistic approach

HONOLULU, Hawaii (HawaiiNewsNow) - Connor Slavens was just getting his photography business going when coronavirus entered the picture and blurred his financial future.

"It was hard to get out. I wanted to be safe going out in public. And certain things were restricted," he said.

Out of necessity, the 19-year-old switched to another art form, an old one that’s reborn through social media sites like Tik Tok. It’s called spin art.

"You have the paint splattering all over the place. You get immersed in it. You get covered in paint," he said.

His prints start by stacking layers of acrylic paint in the center of the canvas. He runs a paint stirring stick through the center to create colorful patterns. The magic happens as the canvas spins on a homemade potter’s wheel.

"The faster you go it'll blend together," Connor said. "The more paint you use it'll cover the canvas more evenly."

Each painting is unique. He gives them names like mood-evoking names like Co-existence, Magma and Sublime. Some images look like they’re bursting from the center, others look like rivers of color.

"As he started creating the pieces I was immediately blown away with the colors and the concept. You never know what it's going to come out to look like," his father, Chris, said.

Connor turned his spin art into a new income source. He sells his work through his website. That helps replace what he lost to the pandemic.

"I never really saw myself as a painter until I really got into it," he said. "I said this is so fun and it's so creative."

He had to be creative, and it's generating other ideas.

“Who knows? I might do something else. I’ve always been artistic so the sky’s the limit,” he said.

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