Looking back on the past 12 months I definitely see a consistent trend in my art, as always...it's colorful! and has my unique spin on PoP Art with a combination of realism and abstraction thrown in to create a style that I hope always portrays who I am and is instantly recognizable as my art.  

Looking forward to 2017 I know I will be working on several new collections, particularly my EMPOWERED collection to inspire women to be successful, creative, strong and motivated to live their lives and pursue their dreams while being true to themselves. This collection will be comprised of abstract sybmolic paintings.  Within this collection I will also be doing a "Women Warriors" series depicting famous women who have displayed the ideals I wish to inspire within the EMPOWERED collection.  I started on my first two just this week, Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) and Frida Kahlo.  Both fitting in that we just a few days ago lost the strong-willed and outspoken Carrie Fisher at such an early age (RIP Carrie), and Frida was a woman far beyond her time in her strength and resolution to live her life the way she wanted, and of course as a fine artist herself I feel so very inspired by her ability to have moved past difficulties and heal through her art.

I will also continue to work on my abstract symbolic paintings, particularly on oversized canvases from Genie Canvas.  These paintings have such an impact due to their size and bold, vivid colors while also drawing the viewer in for a closer inspection to search out and relate to the symbolicly inspirational messages hidden within the painting.

And the third collection I will continue to grow and create for is my Luxe Life, all about the good things in life to inspire us to reach for our dreams and enjoy what life has to offer.  And of course other ideas will always pop into my head and must be put to canvas and paint, I will never stop creating spontaneously if something overwhlemingly strikes me to have to create it.

I am also looking to show more of my art in person, in addition to my online presence; art is so much more powerful when you can look at it up close and delve into the richness of the colors and slightest variations of the brushstrokes that cannot be seen on a computer screen.  It is time for me to step out of my introverted, creative shell and put my art and self in front of more people in the physical sense, so stay tuned for announcements of where and when you can meet me and see my art for yourself!

I look forward to a fabulous 2017 and hope all your dreams and aspirations will take root and/or come true!! I will be working towards fulfilling mine and creating more :)

As part of my EMPOWERED Collection I'm going to be doing a series of "Women Warriors" featuring strong women from history, whether the past or present, and also female characters that epitomize strength, grace and inspiration.  Women who don't take no for an answer and offer society inspirational goals and a "can do" attitude, not letting anything hold them back.  They are "warriors" who have fought the battle of feminism/mysogyny and forged an easier path for all of us to continue to make headway towards equality.  Whether that was their goal or not, they are still a part of our history towards gender equality and I want to celebrate their spirit through my art.

I was going to do Frida Kahlo as my first in the series because she is one of the most inspirational artists for women, a woman who endured so much in her life and yet willingly shared her pain and how she overcame and dealt with the struggles through her art and life.  But, just a couple of days ago we lost an amazing iconic woman who was one of the first movie heroines to really show that a woman can be just as much an action star and strong character as any man, perhaps even more so than any of her costars, and she did it with such an air of comfort and ease, she had nothing to prove, it was the role and Carrie Fisher played it to a T, she WAS and always will be a Rebel and our Princess (Leia).  And so sad to note that her mother, and fellow actress, Debbie Reynolds passed away yesterday, just one day after her beloved Carrie, may they both rest in peace and be angels among the stars...we will forever be inspired to be strong and resilient women because of them.

​This is a very outside the box painting for me that I recently created on commission for one of my copyright lawyers ~ "Aequitas"©.  It was definitely a challenge, but one I gladly took up and will be doing a whole collection on Law and Justice since I enjoyed this one so much. My lawyer requested a painting based on Janus, the Greek God of change who had two faces, other than that he gave me free reign to compose as I felt, and he loved the way it turned out, and so did his tween and teen aged girls; now that's endorsement! So stay tuned for more in this collection, it will be fun to come up with ideas for this series, can't wait!

I love to create custom art for my collectors, whether it be something similar in style or colors to paintings I have already completed to a totally new idea such as this. I am open to any and all commission requests!  Feel free to contact me with your unique ideas and concepts ~ info@madartdesigns.com

Giving you a sneak peak at some of the paintings I've completed for the women's Empowered Collection. I'm in the process of creating an entire collection before offering anymore for sale, and actually hoping to be able to have an in person showing with the collection, so wish me luck and stay tuned for when and where sometime in 2017!