Kristye Addison Dudley - Contemporary Fine Artist

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 ...

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. ...

© 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...