This has been one BUSY month, but a good month! It has been packed with artful goodness too. It started with Matisse…and went from there!

A friend of mine, inspired me to do a little research on the artist Henri Matisse…so, I decided to try out some of his favorite subjects, and favorite colors…here’s what I came up with…

La Femme Au Chapeau Rouge (Woman with a Red Hat), is an acrylic painting on a 5 x 7 inch canvas. She is now displayed on a wall in a home, in Japan. But since I loved her so much…I wanted to create more Matisse-like paintings.

Marguerite Au Chapeau Rouge (Marguerite with Red Hat)

La Femme Au Chapeau Bleu (The Woman with Blue Hat)

Belle Rouse (Beautiful Redhead)

Not only was this a painting month, but I also had the chance to teach collage and mixed media art, to some lovely local ladies, who had seen my newspaper article.  It was so much fun, to share my love of art with them. I think that they too, will soon become addicted to this kind of art…it’s easy to fall in love with art that tells a story!

We created ATCs…

and I showed them how to expand on that idea, with creating triptych ATCs…three cards joined together, to make a standing piece of art.

Then we took it a step further, to create a little larger work of art. These collages are fun to do on vintage game cards, or with any kind of cardboard you have available. It’s a way to recycle and have fun at the same time.

I had another art student this month, who wanted to learn how to make mixed media collages with magazine images. We spent the whole day, elbow deep in papers, paints, images, embellishments…and created collages that tell a story. Using magazine images as a base, gives you a guide to work with…so, when you paint over the top, you aren’t starting from scratch. Then you build off of that, with more collage papers, paints, and writing.

I took a break from collage, and painted some sunflowers for a friend of mine. These are chunky wooden boards, so there is no need for a frame. Just paint, and hang on the wall. Sunflowers always make me happy…they are one of my favorite things to paint!

Late in the evening, when I am too tired to paint, I bring out my iPad, and use the SketchClub app. I love creating these sketches digitally. I am just learning how to use this app…but for $1.99,  it is well worth it, to practice your drawing skills. All I used is the app…and my finger. Believe me, it’s a lot of fun. Try it…you’ll like it!

Like I said…it is an awful lot of fun to play with! A little addicting too!

Finally, I made a little art over the past weekend, at some art classes that I took in Petaluma.

Creating with collage and encaustic wax…very fun!

I also worked on my assemblage skills this weekend, with artist, Michael deMeng, creating with found objects, and making them look vintage! It’s one of my favorite things to do!

And last, but certainly not least…my art was featured this month, in the September/October 2011 issue of Somerset Studio magazine.

Yes, that’s my mixed media collage on page 95, called The Painter’s Dream. I created it as part of an online workshop with Misty Mawn. She is a fabulous teacher, and I owe much of my art progression to her teaching and encouragement!

So, September is just about over…but I can look back at all the fun I had creating art…whether it was by myself in the art room, or with friends in their homes, or with fellow artists in a classroom. It was a full, but very good, month!

Let’s see what October has to offer!