Kristye Addison Dudley - Contemporary Fine Artist

Happy New Year, I hope this new year is treating everyone well. I have started the new year off well traveling, seeing family and renewing my passion for painting and all things creative. My husband and I took a couples trip to New York City and that place always sparks so much creative energy in me. There is something about the heartbeat and pulse of the city that I had been missing. I have decided to embrace all parts of me and try to make are without rules. My good friend Erin and I were chatting online and she always has something motivational to share. She reminded me to have fun. Sometimes, I get so concerned with making "good" art, that I don't want to make mistakes. How silly is that! The best art sometimes comes from mistakes. So it's time to have some fun in 2014!!! So, in doing so I am going to share more about my work, paintings in progress and studio life in general. You know, the mistakes, the trial and error, the paths less taken.  Hope you are rea...

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 ...

Untitled © Kristye Addison Dudley Have you ever watched the show hoarders and immediately wanted to throw away everything you own? Now that we are in the military, we are sort of gypsies. We will move every few years. Keeping lots of stuff doesn't work with this lifestyle. Yet and still, I keep collecting. I watched one Hoarders episode last week and I felt the need to purge things I hadn't worn, used or looked at in a year. Then I watched a documentary called Beautiful Losers. It's about outsider contemporary art culture. I looked at the studios of the artists and thought back to what my studio used to look like. Simply put, organized chaos and at times could have been its own episode of art hoarders. I used to collect things that inspired me. Magazines, toys, pictures, fabric, equipment (screen printing, laminating machine, book binding, cutting boards, seeing machine and more), history books, music and whatever else I found. Recently, I found some of my magazine c...

As I look back over 2012, I can't overlook how my year began. I spent New Years Eve burying one of my friends. I was early in the first trimester of pregnancy and not ready to tell anyone. I was sad but hopeful about the year and felt the need to hold tight to my friends and family. Since then our family has grown and I am the proud mother of two kiddos. My spunky and creative little 2.5 yr old girl and my sweet smiling bouncing 4 month baby boy. My husband and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary and together re-energized our marriage. His upcoming deployment helped us to not sweat the small stuff. My mother has been living with us and that has provided a much needed time to reconnect with her. I am getting to know the woman not just my Mama and in turn, she is seeing me as a mother. It's all very surreal. This new year is going to be a challenge full of surprises, but I am so thankful for another year, actually for another day to share with my family and frien...

 Do you remember that song "He's got the whole world in his hands"? I used to love that song! This morning before daycare my KJ awoke to an extra Christmas tree. We decided to put up two since this house is so large. This one is the "gold" tree. It has mostly gold decorations with a few red blubs and snow flakes. KJ likes the little red ones and was excited to add her own blubs to the tree. Watching her hold that little bulb made me think of the song. We have so much in our control day to day. Even with those things that are out of our control, we can choose how we deal with them. This month has continued to be a roller coaster for our family. My husbands deployment was initially cancelled. Then it was turned back on. Then, his training for the second deployment was cancelled and discussion of another cancellation was being discussed. Then on Wednesday of this week, we find out he has offical orders and he will be leaving in a couple of days and will be gone ...

Soul Stirring © Kristye Addison Dudley Have you ever been in a situation where you had to decide weather to laugh or cry? This month has been full of them. Highs and lows, tears and laughter have filled our home. The most important event that happened this month was Mark's deployment was cancelled. Of course I cried! I was so happy to know that he would be home with our family. He came home from training with the great news. Then there was looming dread of when he would be called up. Funny how the mind works. In other news KJ, our 2.5 year old, is officially potty trained! We went full tilt on training during a three day weekend and she is in panties! Lots of laughter and potty dances for that one. My baby is growing up (tiny tears). My mother is doing well, some days are easier than others but for 80 she's pretty amazing! Watching her chase a half naked 2 year old to the potty, was pretty funny. Realizing that she can't do everything she used to do is difficult...

"My perspective, your perspective" (Detail of diptych) © Kristye Addison Dudley January is almost over and I have only blogged once. I have got to get back to it! Well, here's an update. A memorial fund has been set up for Keasha, here is the link Keasha Rutlegde Draft Memorial . And I still can't believe that the new year started off with such a huge loss. I love you girl. On the home front, my 22 month old is settling in to all-things-toddler and keeping me and my husband very busy. My husband and I have been making plans on my career change and recently found that "our" best laid plans had some flaws. That's probably because, our plan veered slightly off of God's plan. The painting above has a partner that is right side up. It's always reminded me of how different a situation can appear from your point of view. Sometimes you need a new perspective. And I thank God for that. "Anyone who listens to my teaching and follows it is w...

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 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...

My 4 year wedding anniversary was Friday September 2. We had a great date night celebrating and thinking about our lives and our little family. I met my husband at a wedding and two years and a day later we married each other. He brings a harmony to my life that I can't explain. He is a true gift from God. I prayed for a man like my brother and my father, who was kind, liked to dance, loved the Lord and a few other things. I put my short list in a prayer jar and left it alone. About two weeks later, I met Mark. We laughed and danced the entire wedding reception, and I thought "he was such a breath of fresh air". We exchanged numbers and talked everyday from that point on. He met everyone in my family, including my father whose passed away two weeks later. My life was changing in so many ways so fast. Mark prayed with me and was able to help me work through the loss of my Daddy, since he had just lost his. We had such a deep connection, it was like we were in pe...