Art opening at Quantum Leap Winery features Madeliene Abling collection

Madeliene Abling worked for nearly 20 years as an attorney but decided the profession just wasn’t the right fit for her, so she turned to something she really had no experience in but loved — art.

After learning from and studying with other artists, she taught herself a style and technique that has become her own. Now, seven years later, she’s featured in galleries from New England to South Beach, Fla.

Her work is also shown at the Quantum Leap Winery in Orlando, Fla., and the collection there is expanding this month.

Art aficionados and wine lovers alike will have a chance to view Abling’s work at the winery Jan. 25, 6-9 p.m., during a special exhibition of her paintings.

Jill Ramsier, co-owner of Quantum Leap, says the art opening will be a casual, laid-back mix of art and wine.

“People will come in and view the art … meet the artist, talk about her work — hopefully see something they love and must have, and maybe have a glass of wine as they’re viewing,” Ramsier said.

Ramsier says both the wine and art are worth sampling.

“Madeliene has had amazing success,” Ramsier said. “She’s shown at the James Beard House in New York, she’s been featured in many galleries up in Provincetown, she had her own gallery. … She’s also in South Beach in a gallery down there. So she’s just had this tremendous success.”

Abling describes her style as abstract representational. She uses a pallet knife instead of a brush and typically paints oil on canvass.

She says her paintings are “representative of something in the real world, like a wine bottle or a sail boat or a car.”

“The pallet knife has its limitations … it limits how particular you get,” she says. “You have to do larger shapes, which is what lends itself to the abstract part of my painting, and that’s what I love about it — larger and larger shapes.”

And Abling says she paints what she loves: boats, musical instruments, drinks.

The first installment of her work at Quantum Leap includes pieces with a decidedly wine-loving theme — bottles and glasses filled with wine from her series “Under the Influence.”

The art opening will also feature newly added pieces from Abling’s other collections, which take their inspiration from the music world, vintage cars and Abling’s love of sailing.

“I never painted before — ever, ever, ever,” she said. “I bought a boat, took off on the boat and lived on the boat for four or five years. It was when I lived on the boat that I started painting. I’m pretty much self-taught.”

During Abling’s travels up the coast, she spent time in Provincetown, Mass., which she describes as a colony for artists. “That was even more encouraging because I was around a lot of artists, and they would teach me things,” she said.

And after having a chance to work with a pallet knife, which led to her current style and technique, she says she’s never looked back.

Ablings work can be viewed at http://www.ablinggallery.com/.