Last year I started created my MAD Doodles and they were exclusively created on 11"x14"Bristol Paper with Sharpie pens.  Most of them were black and white, with a few colors mixed in every now and then.  A few weeks ago, it struck me, why not try and do my doodles as paintings?!  Duh, haha! So, I created the first two doodles on 19"x24" recycled bristol paper and LOVED the way they turned out.  But, then I got to thinking how it would be even cooler to create them on 16"x20" stretched canvas with the sides painted the same as the underlay background, and so my new MAD Doodles have evolved into what I am creating now.  ​

​I usually paint them in the morning to get the creative juices flowing.  They are fun, graffiti style PoP Art paintings that just allow me to go with the flow.  They are also a practice in color combinations and design elements that I use in all of my other artwork.

Both black and white sketches, and the paintings, are available for purchase HERE.

Check out my YouTube video painting one of my MAD Doodles!

​Follow along as I teach you how to create your own original, abstract landscape Painting on YOUTUBE! This is my first painting tutorial video, so bear with me, haha! I plan on doing more, so the process should hopefully get better, but I think this was a good, fun start. I've never taught art before, but I did teach high school Geography and World History for a short stint, so I have a slight understanding of teaching. I hope you enjoy learning how to create your very own art with my tutorials and would love to see your creations! Tag me on Instagram @madartstudios and/or Facebook @MadartStudios

My first painting I chose to create is one of my color study abstract landscape paintings.  They are easy to follow along with, but are also fun to create and go perfect with any decor.  "Lush Orange Forest" was created on a 12"x16" canvas panel, but I plan on creating new ones on 16"x20" gallery wrapped canvases in the future.

Be sure to subscribe to my YouTube channel to be notified whenever knew MAD Tutorial painting lessons are posted!

The original painting is also available for sale HERE

Black Friday SALE at MADART Studios - 50% Off EVERYTHING, including SALE items!!
 
Take 50% off at checkout using code:  blackfriday50
 
Code is valid through December 1st 
If you want to keep up to date on all my newest art and creations, I share everything on my Instagram @MADArtStudios

Stay safe, healthy and inspired! ​

​MAD Doodles are already crazy priced at only $49, and now with the 50% off they are ONLY $24.50 including shipping! Use code: blackfriday50 at checkout

For years I would create a new calendar comprised from my Circle of Life collection of bright, colorful landscape paintings.  But, I've been slacking, I will admit it, and haven't created one for a few years, but I'm back at it and just released the 2021 calendar with all new designs!

The great thing about these calendars is you don't have to dispose of them once the year is over, you can continue to display the calendar as art, or even remove the art pages from the calendar and frame them to enjoy for years to come.  Knowing this I'm going to make a point of creating each new calendar with never before used art so you have the option to use the art in different ways for displaying in your home or office.

For those who may not know, my Circle of Life collection is one of my post popular series I have ever created.  The paintings are always super colorful, using rich, vibrant shades of every color imaginable, and always feature the black silhouette of a tree, surrounded by floating circles in various sizes and colors.  My inspiration for this colorful and whimsical series comes from living life to it’s fullest and repeatedly seeing how the good and bad in life always come full circle. Gustav Klimt is another inspiring force behind my use of circles and other shapes in my paintings. His ability to take unrelated shapes and interpose them to create a painting of beauty and mastery is enthralling and inspirational.

“The nature of God is a circle of which the center is everywhere and the circumference is nowhere.”  ~  Empedocles

I've had lots of different versions of my art tattooed onto fans and collectors alike, and it is always such a great honor to me.  For someone to want to permanently place a piece of my art on their body is the best compliment as an artist I can ever receive, nothing can top that!  So, when I found out that my daughter and a group of her friends all decided to tattoo my symbol "Embrace the Chaos" all at the same time I was completely blown away!  And to know that a celebrity of Marc Anthonys level of fame also received the tattoo at this "tattoo party"  was such a thrill!  Unknowingly hundreds of thousands of his fans have seen the tattoo, but I know, and am so amazed that he wanted to add this symbol to his collection of tattoos.  And incidentally his tattoo artist friend, Rafael Valdez, was there creating the tattoos, and got one as well :)

The "Embrace the Chaos" symbol is part of my enlightenment series where I have created a new set of symbols that empower us to find inspiration in everything around us.  MAD symbols are each designed with the intention to inspire and empower. Enso, the familiar circle of enlightenment, was the main source of inspiration for all of the circle symbols, and of course I added in my own special MAD touch.  The "Embrace the Chaos" symbol is about accepting what we cannot control, and instead controlling how we react.  Things are going to happen in all of our lives that create chaos and uncertainty, but we cannot let it control us, or let it bring us down.  We have to rise above and embrace it and know that it will be short lived; the chaos does not define us, we do.

Here are some other sources of inspiration and what they mean and how they are applied to my custom symbol designs below:

ZIBU | Means "listen within" from the zibu angelic language of symbols. Zibu angelic symbols were created by Debbie Zylstra Almstedt during a Reiki session in 2002. She claimed to have experienced a communication from a group of Angelic Guides. Each Zibu Angelic Symbol is an interpretation of a message from Angelic Guides.  A seemingly sub category of Celtic symbolism. 

​CELTIC | For centuries, Celtic symbols and signs held incredible power for the ancient Celts in every way of life.  The word "Celtic" refers to people who lived in Britain and Western Europe from 500 BC and 400 AD. Celts were of the Iron Age and lived in small villages which were led by warrior chiefs.
The written records remaining from the Celts of Europe are scant, therefore signs and symbols can be hard to determine and trace. Many facts come by way of the Romans, who conquered the Celtic lands during the rise of the Roman Empire.

REIKI | Reiki is a Japanese technique for stress reduction and relaxation that also promotes healing. It is administered by "laying on hands" and is based on the idea that an unseen "life force energy" flows through us and is what causes us to be alive. If one's "life force energy" is low, then we are more likely to get sick or feel stress, and if it is high, we are more capable of being happy and healthy.