Located in the Texas Hill Country, ArtFromDenise is owned & operated by Denise Cunniff. That's me! A one woman art show. Offering high quality canvas wall art and unique art decor direct from the artist at her best possible price.
My art is inspired by, well, EVERYTHING. Not just the cookie cutter reasons included in the average artists bio. Sure, nature inspires me. So does chocolate cake. And unless it's birds, trees, a sunset or seascape, I mostly paint in an abstract style, never know what will inspire me, try to follow my gut and rarely plan the design. It's an organic process. Color drives the direction. Mood affects everything. And usually, I'm not sure if it's me controlling the paint or a higher power. Especially when a painting turns out 100x better than I could ever imagine. Seriously, I think that power drives most life-long talented artists. Visual and otherwise. It's a passion we're born with for many reasons. We're meant to tune in, let go and share it with the world.
Like when a friendly little small town bank asked me to paint five huge indoor murals. Lots of research, planning and designing would be required for five hill country scenes depicting their town's history of longhorns, horses, ranchers, cowboys, Indians, merchants, wagon trains and more. All in sepia tones for an aged look.
The uncharted territory of this project wasn't easy to take on. Painting landscapes - no problem. That comes naturally for me and when realistic art was more popular, I loved doing it (in full color). Animals and people were not in my painting repertoire. One 30' wide mural required painting from planks resting on 16' scaffolding. Heights give me the heebie-jeebies. Walking planks is for pirates. Using one color sounded boring.
As one who doesn't want to disappoint with a bit of OCD thrown in, I worried they wouldn't be happy with the results. Until a friend reminded me that I needed to let go and have faith.
Amazingly, with the exception of prep work, the first mural was completed in two days. A scene of hills + trees + four cowboys on four horses crossing a river. 15' wide! In 2 days? I had to sign it God + Denise. Really. It would have felt like plagiarism otherwise. The entire project was an awesome experience. Talk about inspired! Each mural flowed like magic and turned out great. I loved every minute of it AND all the friendly small town people.
Soon after, another friendly small town bank asked me to create similar murals. In full color.
I pay attention to synchronicity (my favorite word) and gladly painted those. Plus horse portraits and western murals for other people. And another one for that first little town. A life size outdoor full color scene for the tourist hot spot of Bandera. The final results were even more awesome. The preliminary work I did photographing handsome cowboys on horses wasn't bad either. Icing on the cake.
This has been a pattern for my 35+ years as an artist and interior designer. The more you let go and let God help you master something, the more you will enjoy it and the more in demand it will be. For a reason. Fourteen years later, those murals are still being enjoyed by thousands of people and the families that commissioned the horse portraits will enjoy them for generations. Which is what it's all about.
Similar mural requests still come in. But due to a near fall off of 12' scaffolding, you'll never see my butt UP there again. Creating from the comfort of my home studio is much easier than climbing ladders or monkey bars. And my interests and preferred style has changed. As well as my customers. Most just want uncommon home decor that makes them feel good and looks great in their space. Which is why my current art is all about that.
These days, time is a big factor in how and what I create. For every original painting, I scan and process the image for printing, create design examples for each listing, take care of marketing, customer service, and all other facets of managing an online business. As a one woman art show, switching gears from 'in the flow' of creating art to managing left brain duties is a challenge. Then there's that challenge we all face of not getting sucked into some random rabbit hole every time we go online. Know what I mean?
Anywhooo....
To make the most of my time and keep overhead costs down and sustainable, I only offer products online and don't keep anything in stock. All items are upscale in design and made to order - one at a time - after an order is placed. For this shop, a production partner prints each item on fabric, then they cut, sew, package & ship.
I hope you will allow the time to browse through the ArtFromDenise shops. Among the abundant array of unique art products to choose from, you're sure to find something to suit your style and personality, as well as uncommon gift options. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions.
♥
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtFromDeniseDecor
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtFromDenise
Section of my studio
Part of my studio art nest.
Back in the day. If you read the story below, you'll understand why this mural is posted.
Trying to stay organized.
Icing on the cake. If you read the story below, you'll understand why this mural is posted.