Meet Mixed Media Artist & Instructor Susan Rossiter

If you love bold color palettes, playful patterns, and the unmistakable style of mid-century modern design, you'll instantly connect with the work of mixed media artist Susan Rossiter. Drawing inspiration from the colors, shapes, and graphic patterns of the 1950s through the 1970s, Susan creates vibrant abstract collages using her own hand-painted papers, acrylic skins, and layered mixed media techniques.

Susan's artistic foundation is as diverse as her work. She studied fine art metals, printmaking, design, art history, painting, and drawing in college, and today those disciplines come together in every piece she creates.

"I incorporate all of it into making my own unique papers and collage elements. Texture, composition and color auditions play a big part in my process and I love my job. It gives me those good brain chemicals."

We're excited to welcome Susan as one of the featured instructors in Fodder School 5, where she'll share her signature process for creating joyful, layered mixed media artwork that celebrates color, composition, and creative play.

Fodder School is an online mixed media art school where artists of every experience level learn collage, art journaling, handmade books, printmaking, painting, and creative techniques from a diverse group of professional artists. Each instructor brings a unique artistic perspective, making every lesson a chance to discover new materials, processes, and ways of creating.

For Susan, collage is about building visual history. Layering painted papers beneath and over acrylic paint creates surfaces filled with texture, depth, and unexpected discoveries.

"I have never been happy using only paint in my paintings. Incorporating papers under and over paint creates a unique look you can't achieve with paint alone. It gives the paintings texture and richness. People often ask me, 'How did you do that?!'"

Much of Susan's artistic voice can be traced back to childhood. Her aunt regularly mailed treasures from her travels around the world—tea towels, scarves, decorative boxes, postcards, photographs, and beautiful papers. Those keepsakes sparked Susan's fascination with mid-century textile designers and their fearless use of color, pattern, and shape, influences that continue to shine through in her artwork today.

For Fodder Challenge 2025, Susan will teach you how to create charming mid-century-inspired floral tags using her favorite techniques for making richly textured painted papers. You'll cut and combine your handmade papers into abstract flower heads and stems before assembling whimsical floral collages that are perfect for gift tags, journals, greeting cards, and mixed media projects. Add a touch of glass bead gel, and you'll have a beautifully dimensional embellishment that's almost too pretty to give away.

In Fodder School 5, Susan expands on those techniques with two inspiring projects. You'll create a striking abstract mid-century composition while also exploring floral design through a playful abstract vase painting. Although both lessons begin with the same foundation—developing a color palette, creating painted papers and acrylic skins, cutting graphic shapes, and preparing floating frames—the creative decisions behind each composition are entirely different.

As you work through Susan's lessons, you'll strengthen your understanding of color relationships, balance, layering, and abstract composition while developing a collection of handmade collage papers you'll continue using long after the class is over.

If you've ever admired colorful abstract collage and wondered how artists create work that feels so effortlessly balanced, Susan's lessons will give you the confidence and techniques to start creating your own.

And if you're thinking, "There's no way I could make something like that," that's exactly why Fodder School exists. We break mixed media techniques into approachable, step-by-step lessons that make creating beautiful artwork accessible, inspiring, and, most importantly, incredibly fun.