Kristye Addison Dudley - Contemporary Fine Artist

I had the opportunity to help my Atlanta Falcons Cheerleader friends with a bonding craft for their summer retreat. I often pull inspiration from magazines and printed materials for my work and to set goals for myself. The ladies on the team, used my instructional video to create their own vision boards. Try one yourself, they are really fun and a great use of all the old magazines you have lying around. Best of luck to this years AFC. Cheers to you, Kristye Kristye.com   My Blog Purchase originals and prints   kdudley@kristye.com Tweet @KristyeStudio Like and share My Facebook Page Kristye's Studio    

" The Jo u rney" © Kristye Addison Dudley   This painting was commissioned by a collector and good friend of mine , Chris Draft. He also uses the artwork for the logo for his foundation. Chris Draft Family Foundation     He also heads up Team Draft after the death of his wife, my close friend Keasha, to lun g cancer. He has made it his mission to c hange the face of Lung Cancer. Keasha was not a smoker, b ut her life was still taken too soon by cancer. Please visit the links to learn more. I took some ti me at the end of the year to reflect on the highs and the lows. The biggest change in my art career was the daily painting challenge I accomplished in the Spring. It really sparked my passion for painting, and helped me grow as an artist . It also reintroduced me to social media through my friends online,   collectors, other artist and prospective galleries. My work is being represented in a local gallery and I am teaching my first palette knife class ...

Love is in the air! February 2013, MJ (6 months old) and KJ (2 yrs old)  at dinner. I  can't believe my last post was February of 2013! Ok, I am going to try and catch you up! In March 2013 I started to get the hang of my husband being deployed. I knew who to call when I needed help, my mother was figuring out how to use the washing machine, the remote control, how to assist at the potty and how to calm a crying baby. I was working on running a 5K, freelancing part-time as a graphic designer, taking KJ to gymnastic class and making it to my Diva Dance class once a week. My husband was managing his deployment and always made time to talk to the family each and every day. Then late in the month seasonal allergies and illness seemed to overtake my home. By the end of April, I had taken everyone to the doctor at least once. April also was the month that I delivered my husbands birthday gift. A video of friends and family wishing him happy bday. His care package included ...

Reflections © Kristye Addison Dudley purchase prints This painting is called Reflections. I painted it years ago during a time when I was just pondering what my life would be like. Would I get married? Would I have kids? Those questions have been answered, but there are so many more like... Which do you prefer pizza or sandwiches? I have always been more of a pizza gal myself, but recently I seem to always end up with sandwiches, or actually IN sandwiches. What's my affinity for pizza? It's an open in your face complete meal. Sandwiches are sort of sneaky. Even though you know the ingredients, there are always surprises when the whole thing comes together. Right now my life is like that. It used to be sort of like a pizza. It was pretty easy to see what you were working with. But now, I am totally in a sandwich. I am in an interesting little tortilla wrap that is my family. It's odd being sandwiched between your kids, your deployed spouse, your parent and everyt...

 The Earth has Weight by Kristye Addison Dudley I am so blessed to be able to celebrate my mother and my own motherhood (I am now 7 months prego with a baby boy and KJ turned two in April). Mom is a little woman, full of life and spunk. I think I look a little more like her everyday. She says what's on her mind and is so proud of her 4 children and 5.5 grands, you would think she worked in public relations. I had to learn early on to not be embarrassed at her announcements of family achievements to anyone in earshot. And I learned to share her with the world and I am so proud of her ability to have unlimited love to give. I thought I would take some time out and share a little about my mother. Last year, she became ill and went to live with my sister in Charlotte, NC. (I can't thank my sister enough for her nurturing spirit). My mother left her home, her church, her friends, her post office and her routine to recover and get back on her feet. This month it's been 8 mo...

"The Earth Has Weight" © Kristye Addison Dudley Purchase Prints and Cards online Hello, it's been a while since I have blogged. I have been busy with life! Well, busy growing one. I am 17 weeks pregnant with our second child and it's a little boy. I was really sick and exhausted for the first trimester and I just focused on getting through it. Now I am feeling better and my body is having flashbacks of when I was pregnant with my little girl. KJ will be 2 next month and it's all sort of blowing my mind. We are also planning to move into a rental house here in Louisiana. I am really excited about it. Last year we almost closed on a home here, but once again, God had other plans. We found peace and contentment where we were and waited until the time was right. Well the time is now. And we will be moving into a larger and even cooler place. It's a restored 1930s home, with lots of great sunlight, parks in walking distance and a huge attic that will ...

Thy Will Be Done - Acrylic on Canvas © Kristye Addison Dudley Purchase Print * It's been an interesting start to the year. I have been asked numerous times "How was your holiday?" I know that people are asking out of routine, because usually the response is "It was great. How was yours?" Then we fall in line with the dance of sharing all the good things that happened. I have had a harder time staying in step with this dance this year. The response "We went to a funeral for one of my college friends." Is not what people really want to know and I try not to over share. But that is the truth. We had a great Christmas eve. We spent it surrounded by our close friends. We had a great Christmas Day. We enjoyed a church service and spent the afternoon opening gifts and hanging out eating left overs from the night before. The next couple of days were just as lazy, until I received the call that changed the tempo for New Years. We drove from Louisiana to S...

There are so many moments in our lives where we question why things happen. There have been times where I wondered "how did I get here?" and "why me?". I have been reflecting on this year, my relationships, my hopes and dreams. I have had the opportunity to see many of my dreams come true. I am married to a wonderful man. I have been blessed with a spunky little girl. I am able to not only create art, but to walk, paint, laugh and share my life with wonderful family and friends. In the picture above, I am standing with one if my childhood idols. Yep, we are the same age, but Keasha was always two or three steps ahead and without her knowing made a path for me. We met in high school at a science and engineering camp at Clemson University. She was so pretty and smart. She graduated from high school a year early, and then majored in engineering. She had her own car, I couldn't even drive yet, and a personalized license plate that some how spelled QT-PIE. ...

 "The Team" Acrylic on Canvas 30" x 24" © Kristye Addison Dudley Purchase Prints and cards Last Friday, the opening was great! I met so many kind and talented people in the art community and I was surrounded by our new family of friends here. It felt so good to share my art with them and receive positive feedback. Since art is so personal, art show openings tend to make me feel a bit like I am standing exposed in a room full of judges. But luckily I made it through without a scratch. The next morning, I awoke with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude. As I mentioned in my blog last week, I "Remember when..." I used to go and visit friends at the drop of a dime. Being married with a little one, makes that spontaneity a bit less spontaneous. But, because of my amazing husband I was able to catch a last minute flight out of town to go and visit with some girlfriends that I have really been missing. So Saturday morning, I got on a plane and flew back ...

Well after 5 years, I am going to be in my first show! This photo is of me setting up. The show is in a unique place here in Shreveport called mainspace @ artspace . It's an exhibition space for local, regional and national artists. This juried show includes 17 artists and is an introduction of sorts for me into the arts community here. Everyone has been so nice to me the "new girl" and the opening is this Friday.  If you live in the area, there are more details on my site, and I would love to see you there. The space is unique, the walls are black, 12ft tall and each artist has a tall column to show their work. I submitted quite a few works, but the ones showing first are the ones that looked the best together in the space. I am also showing my hand painted pillows (that's what the white shelf in the picture is for). I will post more photos from the show later. I have been thinking a lot about time lately. How to get the most out of it, how to be more disci...

 Intuition - 30" x 40" Acrylic on Canvas © Kristye Addison Dudley Do you listen to those voices in your head? Do you sense danger by feeling the hairs on your arms stand up? Whatever your signal is that keeps you moving in the right direction that's true intuition and the higher power moving in your life. Earlier in the year I went to a women's retreat where we were discussing being anointed, transformed and redeemed. We talked about discernment and getting clear path from God. One of the speakers talked about the difference between "Good ideas and God ideas". That really stuck with me. I sometimes feel my head is going to burst with ideas and I don't know which way to go. Sometimes I hear clear next steps and then things usually go smoothly. But other times, I go on impulse and things always take more effort, cost more money and require more work than if I had just followed my intuition and waited. This painting was created in a time of stilln...

By Gods Grace - 30" x 30", acrylic on canvas © Kristye Addison Dudley We are on the road doing what I am calling the "East Coast Tour". Much of my family hasn't seen KJ since we moved away. Now she is 17 months old and full of personality (some of which are characteristic of all little toddlers). We are driving from Louisiana to Georgia to North Carolina to South Carolina and then a 14 plus hour drive back to Louisiana. We are so thankful for this time with our family and friends. We can't see everyone, but we are seeing as many people as we can. Today is my mother's birthday. I feel so blessed to be able to spend the next couple of days with her. Just a few weeks ago I was afraid for her life, but by God's Grace we are celebrating instead of morning. My husband and I are also having some uninterrupted time to think. To really listen to the wind in the trees, hear the birds sing and just have our minds eye opened to life around us. We ha...

The Dancer - 8" x 10" acrylic on canvas board © Kristye Addison Dudley purchase originals and prints This couple of weeks is a blur. We had a great anniversary. Mark took me out for a wonderful dinner and we reminisced and thought back over our lives so far and about our future. For Labor Day weekend we started a "remodel" of our apartment. We are trying to be present and not constantly feel in transition. When we married we knew we would only be in our first home for three years. We didn't take full advantage of that time. We didn't really put down roots until it was time to leave. Although we are only slotted to be here for 3 more years, we don't want to make the same mistake. We are making new friends, getting out and simply trying to enjoy the world around us. We aren't focused on what's next like we did before. What's next will come soon enough. “Do not make a noise about tomorrow, for you are not certain what a day's outco...

© Kristye Addison Dudley I just wanted to give you an update. My mother is doing much better. She is out of the hospital and with my sister. We have so many decisions to make, decisions that we have all put off for so long. But I do have faith that God will provide all that we need if we seek him first. I have a bad habit of knowing what is right and veering off on my own. Then God puts people in my path to remind me of the straight and narrow. I have said it before, but I am so thankful for my family and friends. All of the love and support over this last week has help renew my spirit and my faith. Instead of staying sorrowful, I have been able to look forward. I have been really hard on myself about where I am with my art career. But the truth is, I am where I am and that's that. If I am truly present, I am much farther along than I was last year, so I need to stop beating myself up and embrace progress. (Even if I feel a bit like I am moving at a snails pace. LOL) I ...

Stephanie Blank (wife of NFL Atlanta Falcons owner), "In the Huddle" 36" x 48" © Kristye Addison Dudley In 2002, while I was a professional cheerleader with the Atlanta Falcons, I participated in a charity auction. Although I have drawn since I was a child, majored in fine art and received a graduate degree in graphic communications, I still found (find)  myself feeling insecure about my art. I think it's because when I share my work, I am not just sharing an image. I am sharing a part of myself. Exposing those things that most of us write only in our journals. My journals are there for the world to see and built by my own hands. When it's not accepted, it's like being personally rejected.  This was the first painting that I was publicly  displaying and I was pretty terrified about it. First of all, when approached about the painting I said "I don't do Football players", and didn't think that my work would work for this venue...

 Commission for Mo'Nique (Oscar award winner) © Kristye Addison Dudley Tonight I took some time to update my list of exhibits, collectors and charitable events. I was shocked when I saw them all together. I have really had some great experiences, met some wonderful people and have had the opportunity to share my heart. This is one of those divine things that happened to me. My first solo show was in 2002. I was so excited that I sold a large painting. I was walking on cloud nine and trying to learn more about how to become a "real" professional artist while pursuing my graphic design career. While delivering my first sale, my collector was in a meeting with a customer, but he told me to come and bring my book. He invited me in and introduced me to his customer. I was so surprised to see that it was Mo'Nique! She's a comedian, and won an Oscar for her supporting role in "Precious". She liked the work I was delivering and asked to see my work.  Sh...