Anne Shackelford with her family at ArtUs Co during the Realms of Fungi opening. A joyful night of art, costumes, and creativity featuring body art, costumes, and a first-place dragon in the costume contest. 2025.

Austin artist Anne Shackelford in her unicorn costume standing beside her original fire-burned mixed media artwork. A night of art, family, and celebration at ArtUs Co’s Realms of Fungi opening. 2025.

Thirteen-year-old Violet transformed into a glowing mermaid with body paint by Anne Shackelford. Featuring hand-painted scales, shimmer pigment, jewels, pearls, and seashell accents for a radiant, oceanic-inspired look. 2025.

Mermaid-inspired body art created by Austin artist Anne Shackelford for Violet, layered in purples, pinks, blues, and gold. Embellished with gems, pearls, and seashells, photographed at sunset to capture her luminous glow. 2025.

Golden hour in Austin, Texas frames this serene body art portrait by Anne Shackelford. The model is adorned in gold shimmer and magenta fern leaf patterns, wearing a custom feathered headpiece. The composition blends fashion photography with fine art body painting, celebrating creativity and seasonal beauty. 2025.

Captured in Austin, Texas at golden hour, artist Anne Shackelford and her 13-year-old niece share a joyful moment after a spontaneous body art session. Feathers, gold shimmer, and magenta ferns blend with the warmth of a Texas sunset, reflecting creativity, connection, and the beauty of shared art. 2025.

Close-up portrait of an autumn-inspired body art look created in Austin, Texas by artist Anne Shackelford. Featuring hand-painted gold and magenta fern patterns, layered feathers, and a sculptural headpiece, this image captures elegance, creative expression, and the magic of golden hour light. 2025.

Where the Pattern Flows, a 2025 wall art piece by Anne Shackelford, features intricate floral designs wood burned into walnut with vibrant color and detail. A resin river highlights the natural edge of repurposed mesquite, creating a striking interplay of texture and form.

A work in progress on Anne Shackelford’s studio table, showing the precision and planning involved in her wood burned art. Layers of geometric and organic designs begin to emerge on the Texas wood panel. 2025.

All Singing, All Dancing, also known as Cassandra, is Anne Shackelford’s largest wall art piece to date. The 2025 work features an octopus design layered with alcohol inks, gold and copper leaf, glitter, and holographic film that shimmers like stained glass.

Anne Shackelford facilitating a Somatic Sound Experience with crystal singing bowls, grounded by the handmade altar table “Grace,” crafted from wood, resin, and embedded with shells. This photo captures the essence of Anne’s multidisciplinary artistry: vibrational, intentional, and rooted in beauty. 2025.

Anne Shackelford’s pups keep her company in the studio as she works on a large octopus-themed wood burned panel. The handmade Texas wood panel is alive with flowing lines and intricate pyrography details. 2025.

Anne Shackelford at the Artful Connections gallery exhibit at Artworks Gallery, pictured with the patron who won the art raffle. Surrounded by her wood burned and resin mixed media pieces, this moment celebrates the connection between artist, collector, and community. 2025.

Close-up of Anne Shackelford wood burning in her studio, focusing on the fine details of her octopus design. Her pup peeks up from the floor, a constant companion during her creative process. 2025.

Work in progress showing a tree ring print and wood panel on Anne Shackelford’s studio table, with her dogs resting nearby during the creative process.

Anne Shackelford and a friend pause to take in the details of her original artwork following an immersive soundbath experience. A candid moment of reflection and connection, where visual resonance continues to ripple through conversation and presence. 2024.

Anne Shackelford playing sound instruments during a Somatic Sound Experience immersion, where art, sound, and presence are woven into a shared experiential setting.

Anne Shackelford’s body art creation featuring a sculpted feather headdress crafted directly onto the model’s head, with gold painted accents and vivid blue skin, embodying transformation, ceremony, and creative devotion. This piece was featured on the cover of Tribeza magazine in Austin, Texas. 2022.

Photography by Genevieve Daniell

Anne Shackelford sits high in the branches of an ancient tree in the Hoh Rainforest, wearing a leather corset and a flowing parachute dress she designed and crafted herself. The gown cascades dramatically from the great height she climbed, blending with the moss-covered trees and lush ferns below. This image embodies wild beauty, creative mastery, and deep reverence for nature. 2022.

Photographed by Lisa Hause

From the “Body Witness” series by Anne Shackelford, this vivid body art portrait features Maria embodying the power, beauty, and complexity of the menopausal transition. The iridescent patterns and aquatic tones speak to transformation, wisdom, and the sacred nature of aging in a woman's body. 2022.

Photography by Weston Carls

Anne Shackelford seated with striking presence, wearing her custom designed Cruella de Vil gown during a Halloween photoshoot. The styling, tulle, and theatrical lighting evoke high fashion villain energy with a creative couture twist. 2021.

Anne Shackelford in full Cruella de Vil costume, sharing a sweet moment with a Dalmatian on the steps outside a historic downtown mansion. This scene was part of a Halloween shoot featuring Anne’s handcrafted couture gown and themed props. 2021.

A behind-the-scenes moment from Anne Shackelford’s Cruella de Vil-inspired Halloween shoot in a downtown Austin mansion. The custom gown, designed and crafted by Anne, features elegant draping and theatrical detail. A Dalmatian later joined the set for the full effect. 2021.

Anne Shackelford’s converted garage studio during the post COVID-19 shift of 2020. She moved her hairstyling work into her home and transformed the space into a combined salon and art studio, marking a significant moment of resilience, adaptation, and creative expansion.

A radiant newborn adorned in gold and rainbow-hued body art, with chakra symbols gently flowing down her back. This piece honors the sacred energy centers within us all and the pure presence of new life. 2019.

A behind-the-scenes look at Anne Shackelford sketching her 2019 Christmas angel. This is an annual tradition that mirrors her evolving inner world and artistic exploration. This year's design, anchored in sacred geometry, ink detail, and symbolism, captures a moment of reflection, healing, and devotion. Every angel marks a chapter; this one holds the grace and precision of a soul in alignment.

Anne Shackelford with two body-painted models at a gala event, embodying themes of contrast and connection through crafted golden gowns, sculptural branch headdresses, and butterfly motifs. A living diptych of light and shadow. 2018.

Photography by Lisa Hause

Anne Shackelford’s gold and charcoal body art transforms an infant’s form into a living mandala. Featuring the Sri Yantra, this piece speaks to divine symmetry, the imprint of consciousness, and the holiness of new life. 2019.

Anne Shackelford’s body art honors the divine feminine and the power of birth. Painted in gold and charcoal, this pregnant figure becomes a living temple, adorned with sacred geometry and ancestral patterning beneath the trees at golden hour. 2019.

Anne Shackelford’s last acrylic painting before transitioning into mixed media. This intricate mandala is painted with acrylic on canvas in rich earth tones, soft metallics, and subtle watercolor stains, showcasing layers of geometry, botanical motifs, and spiritual symmetry. 2018.

Anne Shackelford in her yoga space, balancing practice and artistry. This piece captures her hand-painted mandala in progress. This artwork is an intricate blend of sacred geometry and intuitive flow, grounded in presence, movement, and personal ritual. 2018.

Photography by Lisa Hause

A striking full-body transformation inspired by the film Avatar, captured in dramatic light. This model’s costume was brought to life with layered body paint, glowing highlights, and hand-crafted accessories. Created for Halloween, this piece blurs the boundary between fan homage and fine art. 2018.

Artist Anne Shackelford in front of her completed mandala wall mural, a radiant expression of symmetry, color, and devotion. This piece lives in her personal yoga room, bridging her visual art practice with movement and mindfulness. 2018.

Photography by Lisa Hause

Anne Shackelford in an expressive yoga pose beneath a large mandala mural in her home studio, a reflection of devotion, breath led movement, and sacred space in daily practice. 2018.

Photography by Lisa Hause

Anne Shackelford and a friend adorned in vibrant Dia de los Muertos and monarch butterfly face art for Halloween festivities in downtown Austin, Texas. A playful celebration of transformation, remembrance, and creative expression through detailed face painting. 2018.

Artist Anne Shackelford in the midst of completing a mural on her yoga studio wall, an intricate mandala layered with earth tones, gold detailing, and living geometry that evolves and breathes with source. This moment reflects the precision, devotion, and meditative rhythm behind her spiritual visual work. 2018.

Anne Shackelford’s 2016 angel card illustration, featuring a celestial mermaid with a jeweled crown and lotus in hand, surrounded by golden mandalas. A symbol of devotion, beauty, and the ongoing tradition of annual angel card creations since age 19.

Anne Shackelford stands between two fully body-painted models at a gala event. Each model is painted in elaborate designs that blend fantasy and anatomy. One features a shimmering gold floral motif and towering flower crown; the other, a skeletal illusion with a top hat and hand-painted trousers. Together they embody the dramatic allure of live art and costume design as immersive spectacle. 2016.

A portrait of Anne Shackelford standing in the Texas Hill Country woods, adorned in her favorite handmade headdress. Composed of two sets of antlers, her grandmother’s costume jewelry, feathers, and leather, this ceremonial crown fuses ancestral memory with fierce earthly beauty. 2016.

A tender expression of new life, this golden body art piece by Anne Shackelford adorns baby Hadley with painted florals that echo the delicate strength of nature. 2016.

Behind the scenes of Anne Shackelford’s floral body art session with newborn Hadley. This intimate moment captures the care, reverence, and precision involved in transforming a sleeping baby into a living artwork—each stroke part of a sacred tribute to new life. 2016.

Anne Shackelford demonstrating an advanced yoga pose while teaching at Blue Honey Yoga studio—a reflection of her dedication to embodied practice, alignment, and presence in movement. 2014.

Striking dual-body art inspired by the Aurora Borealis. Anne Shackelford painted on two performers for a gala showcase. Their evening-wear corsets contrast with vivid night-sky hues, shimmering aurora trails, and silhouetted forest shapes, blending elegance with ethereal cosmic beauty. 2014.

Anne Shackelford in a backbend pose atop a rock at the base of a Hawaiian waterfall, an expression of balance, strength, and harmony with the living world. 2014.

This commissioned maternity body art by Anne Shackelford features greens, blues, and fractal forms wrapping across the belly and upper body, transforming the pregnant figure into an embodiment of Earth energy. Captured in an open field with stormlight breaking through the sky, the moment evokes strength, emergence, and the power of creation. 2013.

Photography by Lisa Hause

A performance piece by Anne Shackelford, nude, painted in gold, dancing with fire beneath the night sky. This image captures her deep embodiment of ritual, elemental force, and the creative act as both art and offering. 2013.

Photographed by Lisa Hause

Behind the scenes from Anne Shackelford’s Louisiana Bayou tribute body art session. Artist and model share a playful moment post shoot, paint streaked, barefoot, and glowing from the creative high. 2012.

Body painting by Anne Shackelford honoring her model’s Louisiana roots. The back transforms into a painted bayou scene at sunset, complete with magnolia blossoms, heron, and cypress trees. A hand-tied fishing net and floral headpiece complete the living homage to culture, land, and memory. 2012.

Captured in-studio during Anne Shackelford’s Louisiana heritage-inspired body art session. This moment shows the collaborative joy, care, and creative focus involved as Anne airbrushes intricate netting detail over a fully painted form. A tribute to the bayou, Black roots, and bold expression. 2012.

Anne Shackelford wearing a Queen of Hearts costume she designed and crafted by repurposing a wedding dress, photographed during a styled costume photoshoot exploring transformation, storytelling, and creative reuse.

A powerful family portrait featuring Anne Shackelford's brother, his wife, and their daughter. A unified through a single dragon painted across all three bodies. This piece honors their bond and celebrates the Year of the Dragon, symbolizing protection, strength, and shared legacy. A tribute to lineage and love, told through scales and breath. 2012.

Behind the scenes of Anne Shackelford’s family body art session: they share an intimate moment as the Year of the Dragon design begins to unfold across their bodies. A kiss and a quiet honoring of legacy in the making. The backdrop is Anne’s studio, where sketches and symbols of dragons surround this act of devotion and creation. 2012.

Anne Shackelford (center) with a vibrant ensemble of painted performers at a live event and gallery show in June 2012. Each model was hand painted by Anne, blending cultural motifs, character design, and wearable art into a dynamic, living installation. 2012.

Anne Shackelford embraces the finished transformation from her collaborative body art session featuring Mana Culture Jewelry. The vivid blue and purple airbrushed designs with gold accents highlight the fluid artistry and connection shared between artist and model, capturing the joy and intimacy of the creative process. 2010.

A collaborative body art piece by Anne Shackelford featuring jewelry from Mana Culture (Austin, TX). The model’s body is painted in vivid purple and turquoise patterns, adorned with gold and pearl elements, embodying sacred ornamentation and radiant presence. 2010.

Behind-the-scenes moment from Anne Shackelford’s collaborative body art session featuring Mana Culture Jewelry. The image captures the intricate airbrushing process as Anne applies layered stencils, revealing the detailed craft, patience, and intimacy involved in the transformation. 2010.

A body art tribute to Gaia, created by Anne Shackelford using real flowers foraged the morning of the shoot in springtime Austin. Layered with green, gold, and botanical detail, this piece is a living altar—celebrating the divine feminine and Earth’s abundant beauty. 2010.

Photography by Genevieve Daniell

One of Anne Shackelford’s first body painting shoots, featuring a seated figure painted in vivid blue with a hand painted dragon and clouds, channeling myth, power, and creative transformation through the human form. 2010.

Photography by Genevieve Daniell

A glimpse into Anne Shackelford’s years as a hairstylist, here preparing a bride for her Indian wedding ceremony, immersed in beauty, culture, and the sacred rituals of gathering. 2008.

Anne Shackelford’s very first business card from her early hairstyling career in Austin, Texas. As a self employed stylist at Hairy Situations, this card marked the start of her professional journey, a foundation that would eventually expand into art, yoga, and sound. 2000.

Young Anne Shackelford in a handmade costume dress with red sash and floral details, showcasing early creative expression and love for design, circa 1988.