Molly Shirrell Art

So excited to share that my custom pet portrait has made it into At Home in Arkansas Magazine via Jen Bienvenu’s primary bedroom article!! What a cool project!

Highly recommend checking out Jen’s work https://www.jbienvenuinteriors.com/

This project was quite the learning experience as I had to figure out how to create a custom oval painting surface to fit a specific antique frame that Jen picked out. Turns out ovals come in many sizes!! Special shoutout to CNC Machine Master Adam Kittrell at the Innovation Hub in Argenta!

I also used Midjourney, an AI photo generator, to provide initial visual references for the direction of the project that the client could provide feedback on.

Overall a huge success! Couldn’t be happier with the piece, honored to be a part of the designs and, most importantly, very glad the homeowner loves the piece of their very special pooch, Beatrice! 🥰❤️🐶

Delivered Beatrice to her forever home! Special thanks to .bienvenu.interiors for the invitation to take on this project and to for helping create a custom surface to fit this frame!!
It makes me so happy to work with other creatives to bring an idea to life!!

Some people were wondering what I’ve been working on so here’s a piece from my most recent figure painting class. She’s still a work in progress.

Here’s a resolved-enough-to-call-done piece. This was a fun mixed media portrait I finished a few months ago. I have generally neglected drawing so I allowed myself to explore and make mistakes.

This piece started as a graphite drawing, then almost became a pen on paper stippling, but I got frustrated getting too caught up in the details around the nose.

Next I added the darker parts in painted-on graphite (a royal mess) and once I realized the darks were too dark, I added some white gouache over the top and finally put in some details in black and white pen.

But it was fun and I’m pleased with it and that’s all that really matters.

The latest . Trying to wrap this one up and move on to the next this week.

The ! Almost done!
This one has been very experimental. I think I’ll do more portraits! I’m loving the b+w too.
Just taped off the next piece and I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Come hang out with me tomorrow 2-10:30 PM for Party at the Plaza benefitting Arkansas Hospice👏
No tickets needed!
….

I can’t wait to celebrate with you all at my show’s reception on Feb. 28 at the 🎉
Here’s one of my new pieces in the show, Cycling in Springdale.

I love this moment from my installation at .
The Atrium (glass enclosure that connects the old mansion to the ballroom) has beautiful natural light.
I hope you all have a beautiful day ❤️

Moments, a solo exhibition, showcases some of my best figurative work and is currently installed in the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion. The show will run though March.
Please join me on Monday, February 28th from 3-4 PM CST at the Mansion for a reception with Governor Hutchinson and the First Lady!
To RSVP, follow the link below or in my bio and let me know how many friends you’re bringing 😉
See you there!!
https://mollyshirrell.com/rsvp-to-moments-solo-show
If you’ve already signed up, you are accounted for 🎉

Here’s the latest from class!! Having a lot of fun with this one.

I’ve been working on my drawing and painting skills for a long time and it’s finally time to celebrate with a proper show 🤩🥳
Moments, a solo exhibition, showcases some of my best figurative work and is currently installed in the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion. The show will run though March.
Please join me on Monday, February 28th from 3-4 PM CST at the Mansion for a reception with Governor Hutchinson and the First Lady!
To RSVP, follow the link below or in my bio and let me know how many friends you’re bringing 😉
See you there!!
https://mollyshirrell.com/rsvp-to-moments-solo-show
If you’ve already signed up, you are accounted for 🎉

IT’S SHOWTIME! 🎉🍾
Please join me on Monday, February 28th from 3-4 PM at the Arkansas Governor’s Mansion for a reception of my very first solo exhibition!
The show will be made up of new and old figurative work in oil and gouache.
A limit of 150 invitations will be sent from the Mansion. Please RSVP via the link (in my bio)
https://mollyshirrell.com/rsvp-to-moments-solo-show
See you there! Everyone is welcome. Share it with your friends.

T-minus 4 days until solo show install at the 🥵Reception date coming soon.
Send me a message with your email please if you’d like an invitation and I will put you on a list

The !!
Picked out some beautiful watercolor frames yesterday !!
Sorry I didn’t take any pictures!!
I’ll have a variety of new and older work in my upcoming show and I’m finally getting some proper, museum-quality frames! 🥰
I’m also finally getting super into this oil and I have to hand it to my photography skills. This was a great capture!! I love the composition.
I’ll take a better photo of the whole thing soon.
♥️ ♥️ ♥️

So excited about this new painting!! 🥳
racing in this past summer
For those that care about the process - I usually put a thick layer of a single color on first before I draw. I have a white canvas currently. I don’t want to wait for that layer to dry so I’m thinking about starting super washy on this one. I’ll continue to make updates about how it’s going. I’m feeling inspired by actually!
Hope everyone is having an amazing week and embracing the cold weather 🥶

Ear + Pearl detail from tonight
Oil on Canvas

Shelving this one for awhile so I can get through a couple more smaller paintings for an upcoming show!!

I’ll be painting my sweet grandmother, Mimi, with a big grin at sunset on the boat.

I’m super happy with how Kerry is turning out, especially some of the finer skin details that are showing through.

Recently I’ve been paying a lot of attention to how everything recedes into space and trying to make a more sculptural (or bulky-looking) painting.

I’ve been enjoying blending my knowledge, skills and learnings to create something new in this body of work - I’m calling it Friends and Neighbors

I’ve also been trying to be more discerning when it comes to necessary versus less necessary details. Although I did give myself quite the challenge in this one with all these lines!! 🤷🏻‍♀️

Sending everyone kind thoughts! 💐

The WIP so far!! I’m hoping to finish this one this week before I head to LR next week for some business and celebratory fun 🙌
I’m happy with how this piece is going but am also excited to begin a new piece soon
Any takers for a portrait? 😉🤩

A bit of progress from today. More to come tonight.
I’ll show you the head and face soon😅😉

How the new painting is going!!
Honestly a bit rough but also great! 🙌
It’s been so fun to digest what I learned from the NYAA Cont. Ed program.
Model: My neighbor, Kerry

👉Here’s a quick photo dump of some studies I’ve made in New York Academy of Art’s CE class.
They get better (more accurate form and value) each time, which has to be the most exiting thing about being an artist.
I’ve been taking these continuing ed classes for almost a year now and I can’t wait to see how my progress shows up in my next painting series. 🙌

Shoutout to Matt McLeod Fine Art for asking me to be his assistant for this awesome mural!
Painting a mural in the Arkansas summer heat is no joke! (There we’re definitely times I wished I was in my air conditioned studio 😂)
Hopefully I can sign myself up for some more mural projects sometime soon.
I have quite the announcement so stay tuned for more 👏👏
Thank you everyone for your continued support and thanks to Matt for being such a great mentor!