Denise Appel was chef by trade for nearly her whole life but always had aspirations of being an artist. She has been painting as a hobby since she was 12 years old. In her adult years, she began to paint for herself and it became therapeutic. In late 2019 she made the transition to paint and sculpt full time.

Her styles and techniques throughout the years have been a lot of trial and error. With an interest of abstract expressionism, you can describe her technique as layered-textured-overpainter, which is a correlation to cooking.

Her preferred mediums include acrylic, oils, and found objects. She is constantly deconstructing, adding and taking away layers to her pieces. Her love of graffiti and words in paintings are often found in her work.