Kristye Addison Dudley - Contemporary Fine Artist

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 ...

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...

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...