Featured Artist TheRodeoRose

Creativity can never start too early, as Shelley’s grandmother found out. While she was busy doing laundry, a very young Shelley was busy using a safety pin to remove all the pretty gemstones from her grandmother’s jewelry! She was not being bad; she just saw all the pretty colors and wanted them for herself, and who could blame her?

Shelley’s creativity and love of pretty objects only grew from there.  She eventually became a pastry chef creating beautiful eatable things!  The only problem with this plan was that she loved to taste her creations (you know quality control!) and loved what she tasted, so she kept on tasting.  This love of pastry resulted in massive weight gain over time.  Realizing that she had to make a change in her life, Shelley left the pastry industry and managed to lose an impressive 100 pounds which she has kept off since the 80’s, never to return in her own words.

Shelley could not leave her creative streak behind, so she made the leap and began working in art full time.  She was lucky enough to study jewelry design with famous stained glass artist Kay Bain Weiner which led to a one woman show at a prestigious Frenchtown,New Jerseygallery.  Shelley also works in oils, pastels, watercolors, pencil, and ink…but nothing has gotten her blood pumping like jewelry.  Guess you can’t take that love of shiny gemstones away!  She is currently adding to her repertoire by getting back into silver smithing so that she can incorporate even more creative elements into her work.

Shelley is a widow with two grown children whom she is very proud of.  She could not leave food behind forever, and still enjoys cooking when she gets the chance and reads anything she can get her hands on, when she is not busy creating beautiful one of a kind pieces of wearable art that is.

This talented lady is not a snob about her own work and readily admits that seeing others creation’s prompts her to create and push herself.  The advice that she would give to another person trying to work in art full time is that you must love what you do, and it will never feel like work and warns that if you don’t love getting involved with people then this may not be the business for you.  The only problem that Shelley has really run into with her passion is that she doesn’t want to part with her creations!  She has found that craft shows really aren’t for her and find fulfillment in online selling.

So, are you ready to feast your eyes on what a former pastry chef turned jewelry designer can create?  Well, Shelley is easy to find on HandmadeArtists.com as well as her own website.  You can also see her creations on Etsy, ArtFire, and Ebay.

Tags: art, artistic jewelry, Handmade, Handmade Artists, Handmade Harbor, handmade jewelry, jewelry, lampwork

Posted in Featured Vendor