Kristye Addison Dudley - Contemporary Fine Artist

Day 1 - "Cherry blossom's friend" © Kristye Addison Dudley 11" x 14" Acrylic on Paper; Purchase Original or Prints In the cherry blossom's shade there's no such thing as a stranger. Kobayashi Issa I am starting a new challenge this month, to paint one painting everyday for 30 days. I will be using this time to experiment with techniques, mediums and subject matter and get my creative "mojo" flowing again. Spring is a time to celebrate rebirth and I am ready to come out of hibernation. "Cherry blossom's friend" was created using brushed under painting and layering on a fresh spring pallet using a variety if pallet knives and sponge techniques. I look forward to hearing from you on my work. I will be offering the art for sale each day as well. Be blessed, Kristye kristye.com kdudley@kristye.com Purchase originals and prints

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 ...

Family photo of my husband and KJ our babymoon in June. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up. (Galatians 6:9 NLT) Ok so I am 35 weeks prego and I am ready to hold this little guy (or baby Jedi as my husband likes to call him) in my arms. On July 10th, I was blessed to turn 39 years old. Yeah I know, we aren't supposed to say our ages these days, but I feel very blessed to be one of the people who lived to see another day, month, and year of this life. Was this year perfect? Not by any means. Was this year full of memories, laughter, tears and growth? Yep and for all of the things I don't want to experience again, I am so fortunate to have lived through them with my family and friends. Well this next year is full of milestones and I am only in day one! My son is due any day now. Really!!! Last night I started having "light" contractions for about 2-3 hours straight, all while ...

Revelations I © Kristye Addison Dudley Purchase Prints or Cards On the news today, I heard a really sad comment. It was about the divide between working mothers and stay at home mothers. I have to admit, there have been days when I have been working and felt so guilty about KJ being in daycare that I wanted to cry. This year I even took steps to make my work schedule more flexible and add more variety so that I can spend more time focusing on my family. There have been days when I went to lunch and saw mothers out with their young children and envied the time that they spent together. Then there are those days, where my work is so fulfilling that I know if KJ were with me, I could not give her the time and attention she deserved. And then there is that awesome time of the day, when I go and pick her up from daycare and she sees me and smiles. She drops whatever she is doing and runs to me saying "Momma!" And I am reassured that all is well. The truth of the matter i...

"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 ...

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...

Leap of Faith - 6ft x 6ft Acrylic on Canvas © Kristye Addison Dudley Purchase Prints of my work Last weekend I participated in a charity benefit at my church. It was for breast cancer awareness and pay tribute to survivors in the community. There was a great turn out, and I was one of the vendors on hand to share my work. I met so many wonderful people. I donated a print of " In the Huddle " To the speaker. Her story of her life's trials and tribulations was astonishing. But her spirit of thanksgiving was inspiring. The next day we went to the church of a family friend. The pastor is discussing a series on joy. And the message was right on time. One thing that I find myself constantly battling with is keeping my mind focused on pure and simple joy. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18  16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. I pray and I give thanks in all situations (not just for my b...

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...