Addie gravitated toward art at a young age in primary school and worked as an artist’s assistant during her high school years. She later pursued a bachelor’s degree in Creative Advertising from Virginia Commonwealth University and became more disciplined with respect to creating and selling art.
Painting is Addie’s primary art medium. Her work often features brown skin beauties with bold natural hairstyles and blank faces. When I ask Addie why she chooses to not paint facial features on her subject she responds that leaving them blank allows every woman to “see herself” in the artwork. Addie’s voice becomes passionate as she continues to explain that “there’s so much focus on facial details that it takes away from a person’s personality and inner beauty”.
Addie says her most memorable moment as an artist occurred when a young girl looked at one of her paintings and exclaimed “That’s me!”. Instances like these reassure Addie that she is fulfilling her mission to inspire African American women to love themselves in spite of what is seen (and not seen) in mainstream media.
It is important to Addie to make positive artistic images a part of her audience’s daily lives. Her artwork is available for purchase at Art & Ambition her online store. In additions to prints, she also sells notebooks, planners, mugs and other items featuring her beautiful work.
Forgoing a traditional easel, Addie prefers painting on the floor of her apartment – often listening to music and drinking tea or wine. She is a self-proclaimed “artrepreneur” who is continually finding new ways to balance the creative and business aspects of being an artist. Addie dedicates time to her blog which she uses to generously share what she’s learned along the way during her journey as an artist – it’s a valuable resource for upcoming artist, entrepreneur and fellow “artreprenurs”.
Currently, Addie is working to expand Art & Ambition into a full service creative agency. And it goes without saying – naturally, she will continue creating gorgeous artwork.
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Photo sources: photos of the artist and her computer are courtesy of Addie Randle
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Multi-faceted Designer, Creative Director & Founder of SCOTCHBONNET! Accessories