Shelly Denning Creative

Here's what we will be painting for the Watercolor Wine Glass Painting party on Tuesday, April 30 at 7pm. Trust me, it's easier than it looks! Get your tickets now at ShellysArtspace.com/allevents. Don't forget to bring a friend so you both save $5. Save an additional $5 with code WGWS5OFF at checkout.

Sketching out the painting we will do for the party. Stay tuned for the painted version. Don't forget to grab your spot by April 16th to save $5 with code WGWS5OFF. Visit ShellysArtspace.com/allevents today for tickets!

Did you know that you can save $5 each when you purchase a bring-a-friend ticket? And you can save even more if you sign up two weeks before the event with discount code CSWS5OFF.

Are you one of those folks who say they can't draw a straight line with a ruler? I'm here to let you know that ANYONE can be an artist. It just takes time and practice, like anything else.

Join me on January 27th for an introduction to drawing course. I will arm you with the tools and skills that you need to become the artist you've always known you were.

As a special bonus, class participants receive 20% off all Drawing Kits!

Sign up at www.ShellysArtspace.com to reserve your spot today. Space is limited.

My ex-husband (the father of my children) passed away December 31, 2021. We were still friends even after the divorce and I loved him dearly. I wanted to find a way to honor him by creating an urn that matched his personality.

He loved playing Dungeons and Dragons with his friends and family. He was such a great storyteller. Many great memories were made sitting around the table and rolling dice.

A 20-sided die seemed to be the perfect fit. Over the course of a couple of semesters, I made some prototypes. I hit some pretty bad failures, but eventually found a design that worked. I mixed all of the glazes from scratch. The removable topper is made to hold either a tealite or a taper candle.

I still plan to order some overglaze decals with his name and dates, but that will happen later.

This Christmas, I was able to gift these to our two children, his parents and his two brothers. Rest in peace, John.

Holiday Crafting Fun with food, music and more! Friday, December 1st 4-8pm at 113 Cedar Street in Denton. Visit ShellysArtspace.com for more information or to purchase tickets.

Fresh batch of prosthetic transfers for gigs this weekend.

Fresh batch of prosthetic transfers for gigs this weekend.

Make your costume stand out with prosthetic transfers!

Sign up at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/make-your-costume-stand-out-with-prosthetic-transfers-tickets-727723248827?aff=oddtdtcreator

In this 2-part class, you'll learn how to make a small special effects makeup prosthetic that applies like a temporary tattoo!
Please note that this is a two-part class. Part one will be Monday, October 16, 2023 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Part two will be Monday, October 23, 2023 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. Do not sign up if you cannot be present at both sessions. No refunds or discounts will be given if you can only make one part of the class.

Have you ever wanted to create amazing 3-D prosthetics for your Halloween or film project, but been intimidated by the process? Fear not! In this class, you will learn to make amazing prosthetics that apply just like a temporary tattoo! These pieces are waterproof and stay on until you take them off.

Visit my shop (link in bio) to see examples of these prosthetics and their applications.

Traditional silicone, latex or foam latex prosthetics require training and skill to create and apply properly. The pieces we will make in this class are made from prosthetic adhesive and require no special tools. This class will provide you with the knowledge needed to make an army of zombies or accident victims or whatever you can imagine! You will go home with one silicone mold and materials to make a couple of prosthetics at home. Additional material and kits will be available for purchase.

This class will involve some messy stuff (clay, silicone, hot glue, etc.), so wear something you don't mind ruining. Also, we will be working with fumed silica on day one. This material is safe to ingest, but not safe to breathe. Please bring a mask to wear when working with this material (we will be going outside to mix it). Non-latex gloves will be provided.

Sign up at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/make-your-costume-stand-out-with-prosthetic-transfers-tickets-727723248827?aff=oddtdtcreator

Now that you've met our other two artists, I guess it's time to introduce myself.

I was born in Garland, TX, growing up with meager means. I displayed an early interest in art, filling the margins of my school assignments with drawings and doodles. Over the years, I turned to books and TV shows - Bob Ross was a favorite - to improve my skills.

I attended the University of Texas at Arlington straight out of high school and majored in illustration, but had to drop out after one year due to limited finances. Over the next decade, I worked various jobs while raising my two children. When time allowed, I explored the realms of fantasy and horror art. I took part in several art fairs and conventions, but had only minor financial success.

Sensing that this wasn't the correct path, I decided to go into film work instead. For more than ten years, I made a name for myself as one of Dallas/Fort Worth's leading special effects makeup artists. I enjoyed the lab work, which included sculpting, designing, molding and painting, but soon grew weary of the hard life of an independent film worker. In 2016, I decided to start breaking away from film and move back into fine art.

​As a commissioned artist, I found quick success with my photo-realistic portraits and fluid style. In 2019, I returned to school, enrolling at the University of North Texas as a Studio Art major with a concentration in drawing and painting to help fill in some gaps in my education.

In addition to drawing and painting, I studied, jewelry, metalsmithing, woodworking, performance art, sculpture, ceramics and new media art. I graduated magna cm laude in December of 2022 and can't wait to use my new skills to create great things!

I am currently working on building shellysartspace: a business that is starting off with shows like this, workshops and and online art supply shop. I am working toward building a retail shop with studio space, classes, gallery, art documentation and more! I hope you will follow me on my journey! :)

Event info and RSVP: fb.me/e/2NPQazVDq

Presale: www.shellysartspace.com/originalart

The next artist I'd like to introduce is Ben Kelley ().

Ben was born in Portland Oregon. Shortly after, his parents moved back to their home in Mexico, where he spent the first six years of his life living between Oaxaca and San Luis Potosi. After that they moved to Malaysia where he spent the rest of his childhood.

As a child, he displayed a keen interest in the arts: performing for guests and talent shows (often at his father’s request) and drawing at a very young age. His parents enrolled him in a small art school in Selangor, but he dropped out after a few classes. However, he continued drawing and painting on his own.

When he was about eight or nine, Ben hung a drawing outside the house to see if anyone would be interested in buying it for one ringgit (about 25 cents US). The next morning his mother informed him that a passerby had purchased it. She handed him a crisp one-ringgit bill from her purse. This transaction encouraged him to continue to make art. It was many years later that he realized that his mother was most likely the patron, but it sparked what would become an intense desire to create.

He later moved to Texas with his brother and completed his senior year at Longview High School where he discovered theatre and decided to pursue this path at Kilgore College. After graduating with an Associate’s degree, he planned to continue his studies at the University of North Texas, but had to cancel his plans for financial reasons. To raise the funds, he worked at The Geek Squad, where he was blessed with an endless supply of painters tape and recycled cardboard on which to paint his masterpieces. Ben is currently studying photojournalism in Athi-River, Kenya.

He continues to paint and we can't wait to see what he does next!

To access the presale, please visit https://www.shellysartpace.com/originalart.

For event information, please visit: https://fb.me/e/2NPQazVDq

With the Neopolitan art show only being a few days away, I thought it would be the perfect time to introduce the artists. First up is Lyvia Alvarez ().

Growing up in Houston, Lyvia Alvarez was the first person in her family to pursue an art career. In 2017, the self-taught artist attended the University of North Texas and built upon her knowledge in the College of Visual Art and Design. There she found oil paint to be the best medium to convey the emotions and messages she wanted to get across in her work.

Throughout her college career Lyvia had her work hanging in group shows, and in 2015-2017 received the honor of Best of Show and Best in Painting. Her most rewarding experience was being featured in the Houston Chronicle as she led an Upcycle Art workshop. In 2023, she assisted in founding Blue Moon Artistry, and as a result, she honed her skills and created a variety of pieces of art. Currently, her paintings focus on realism, and she enjoys focusing on portraits and their likeness.

We are delighted to have Lyvia's work in our exhibition and we can't wait for you to see her paintings in person.

To access the presale, please visit https://www.shellysartpace.com/originalart.

For event information, please visit: https://fb.me/e/2NPQazVDq

Finished the mural last week. I've been busy working on sound cues for Theatre Denton's production of "Singin' in the Rain," so I haven't had time to post. It was fun, but I may put murals off until the Fall next time. It's just too darn hot.

Here's a little mural update. I added a bit after I took the photo, but I didn't have enough light to take another. I mostly have a little bit more highlighting to do, then a couple of detail-ish things. It's fairly impressionistic, so I don't want too much detail. Just a couple of things to make it pop. Hoping to be done tomorrow. These 100+ degree days are no fun for painting.

A few progress photos of a mural I'm working on. I think I'll be able to finish it in one more session, but I have to wait for the rain to let up.

I got my hands in some clay for the first time since graduating in December. I took a class at in throwing off the hump and using sodium silicate to get this cool crackle effect.

We used a clay I haven't tried before (t somthing) and I was a bit nervous about it because it was so soft and sticky. Fortunately, I had no major mistakes and threw these three little vessels pretty quickly.

I trimmed the feet tonight and will check on them in a couple of days to see if they're ready to put on the bisque shelf. Here's hoping nothing cracks!

I got some Amazon gift cards as a graduation gift and decided to get myself a jug of photopolymer gel. I'd been wanting it for a while, but couldn't stomach paying $60 for 1kg. I finally gave in and I'm so glad I did! It took a few tries playing around with UV settings and other variables, but I finally figured it out! I made myself a custom logo stamp. I need to work a bit more to figure out how to get rid of bubbles. I think that's what happened to the top of the S. Still, I'm super happy and can't wait to make more stamps!

This is a quick drawing I did of Susie in my Beginning Drawing class in 2019. It's 26"x40" which is quite a bit larger than I usually draw. I wish I'd had more time to fine-tune this one, but I'm pretty happy with it for only two sessions.

This is a 6"x6" drawing I did of The Monkees for my Senior Studio class with . It is white colored pencil and charcoal on black paper. I love the challenge of drawing in reverse (light to dark). It gives my brain a nice kick in the ass and makes me actually have to think about every step of the process.

This is also for sale. Please shoot me a message if you are interesting in purchasing it.

In September of 2021, I was asked to help with a mural for the Leadership Denton class. I visited the after dark so that I could project this awesome design by onto the side of the building.

I painted the primer layer for the design and outlined the colored areas, creating a large paint-by-number. The Leadership Denton team then worked as a team to paint the areas in with some pre-mixed paint colors.

After they were done, I came back the next few nights and finished up, cleaning up edges and adding additional layers of paint to make sure everything looked solid and neat. I then sprayed it with several layers of sealer and that was it!

I was happy to see that the hotel has since used the image on their interior screens and the LD37 class had t-shirts made of it. This experience also led me to apply for and be part of Leadership Denton class 38! :)

I made these vases for ' ceramics handbuilding class. They are all themed after Van Gogh's "Starry Night" painting. I love the way the gold luster makes them pop! Unfortunately, someone else's glaze dripped on my platter, so I never finished that one. It can be partially covered as shown, but it's not perfect. I may grind it off at some point and try to reglaze it. We'll see.

"Heart Strings"

This was a project for my Metals: Surface and Color class a couple of years ago. We were tasked to come up with three random shapes and then make them work together. We were also asked to use at least three surface techniques.

All of the pieces were hand cut out of copper and riveted together. The techniques used:

1. Blue: Cloisonne enamel, champleve enamel, sandblasting
2. Black: Powder coat with masking
3. Gold: Chemical etching and enamel
4. Brown: Colored pencil over gesso

I imagined the base piece to be a string instrument. The top pointed piece is a bow or a hand and the curved piece is the movement of the bow or hand over the instrument. When put together, they resemble a heart. Hence the title.

"Monarch"

Here are the final images of the mural I did for the Tarrant Regional Water District. It is by the Trinity River in Fort Worth.

This piece is an anamorphic mural created for the Tarrant Regional Water District’s Trinity Trails. It honors native wildlife as well as the Native peoples who once lived in the area. The mural depicts a time after humans, when nature has gone on (perhaps better) without us. The decrepit structure and aging graffiti show signs of how human intervention can mar the otherwise beautiful landscape. The medicine wheel, birds and "574" (the number of federally-recognized Native tribes in the U.S.) honor those who respected the land more than our current civilization tends to do. The "J.P. + L.P." is a personal mark and refers to the initials of my children.

The Monarch butterfly pays respect to the butterfly who chose this structure as a place to transform (causing me to adjust my original design so as not to disturb him). The title refers to him and to the doe in the painting.

"Head in the Clouds"

This is an oil painting I did for 's figure painting class a little while ago. I would love to say I painted it from life, but this was done during the covid lockdowns so we had to paint from reference images.

The assignment was alla prima, but I'm pretty sure I painted it over a couple of sessions. I usually work photo-realistically, but I tried very hard to make this one less detailed. This was one of the first steps toward doing work like the portraits of my ex-husband and my grandmother.

I was very happy with the skin tones in this one; especially the highlight under the chin.

This guy is for sale as well! Let me know if you are interested and we can talk. :)

Denton folks! If y'all haven't checked out yet, you need to! Not only do they have great drinks and great folks, but they have art supplies aplenty so that you can get in touch with your inner Picasso. I went with a couple of friends last week and we were so in the zone that we didn't realize when it was closing time. I played with some fun metallic tempera paints and brought this bad boy home to dry. Then I broke out some gold paint markers, a white gel pen and an alcohol marker to finish it up. See you at Yellow Dog!

"The Perfect Woman"

When Covid hit, one of my classes that went online was Drawing and Painting: Experimental Methods. For this one, we were directed to create a painting with anything but paint. As a makeup artist, I have a lot of makeup that is past its prime, so I thought this would be the perfect way to use some products that would otherwise be thrown away.

Since I was using makeup, I wanted to paint a beautiful woman as a commentary on beauty standards. The eyes and mouth opening were left blank since they are typically the only parts of our faces where we don't place makeup.

To add a second layer of meaning, I based the portrait off of this beautiful photo of a friend who does drag. was the perfect subject. He and uber-talented photographer graciously allowed me to use this photo to illustrate that the perfect woman (based on current beauty standards) does not exist. In this case "The Perfect Woman" is a man.

A lot of foundation, pigments and lip glosses went into this. Resin separates layers. I was hoping it would continue to move behind the resin and start to distort, but so far, it looks the same as when I finished it.

As a side note, this was done during the Ice-pocalypse. We had no power for five days. I did this in our bathroom where we had decent light due to large windows. I would work for as long as I could feel my fingers and then return to my place by the fire. I'm actually surprised that the resin all set up OK. It was pretty grueling, but at least it gave me something to do.

Here are some of the pieces I made in my Beginning Ceramics Throwing class a couple of years ago. I was especially proud of the pig coffee mug I made for Patrick (he uses it all the time), the incense burner with different lids and the toothbrush holder. The tortilla warmer looked good, but he lid fused to the base. Someday, I'll take a dremel to it and try to release it.

I had such high hopes for this set of jewelry displays that I made in my ceramics handbuilding class. Unfortunately, they all had some really major flaws. Most of them had cracks (which have since spread even further). And the red glaze pulled away from the bases. I even tried reglazing them, but it didn't fix the problem. The knife on the back of the necklace display broke before the bisque firing. I had planned to just glue it on, but I'm considering that piece a total loss at this point.

This was a couple of years ago and I have since had much more experience with ceramics. I may try again someday, but maybe not.