Susan Martin-Spar, who works with oils and pastels, and Linda Marie Kempe who designs hats, bags, and accessories, are this month’s featured artists at Gallery 9, Katy Morse reported.

Susan Martin-Spar is a classically trained artist who studied at Georgetown Atelier in Seattle and graduated in 2012.

Spar’s art consists of landscapes, figures and detailed still life and is in permanent collections throughout the U.S., Australia and the far East.

“This October Susan will be introducing some new work. She is excited to share her painting ‘Cascade,’ a floral that represents a new path Spar has been exploring since last year with exciting abstract backgrounds and vibrant color,” Morse wrote.

It will be featured in the front window. Martin-Spar has also been trying her hand at an expressionist form of figurative painting and three of these romantic figure paintings will also be on exhibit. Although they are reminiscent of her earlier landscape work, two fantasy paintings will be on display as well along with several of her other traditional pieces.

“I’ve been wanting to stretch my creativity in new directions these past two years. I come from a very traditional and classical background with extensive atelier training. That intensive study has served me well in providing a strong foundation from which I feel confident in exploring other genres and styles. Birds have lately been making an appearance in my work and I am also enjoying the romantic figure in a new style of expressionism. It’s no secret to my friends that I love fantasy and so you’ll see some of that work as well appearing from time to time,” the artist said.

Art lovers are welcome to enjoy a glass of wine and chat with Martin-Spar at Gallery Walk from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, October 7.

Linda Marie Kempe creates a wide variety of art, from wearable fabric arts to paintings that jump off the canvas and invoke deep thinking. She has been producing and selling art for more than 20 years, developing a style unique to herself called “Flow Energy Art.”

“My responsibility as an artist is to let go of preconception, and allow the art to create itself through me,” she stated.

Kempe is influenced by painters like Hieronymus Bosch, Salvador Dali, Georgia O’Keefe. Her paintings fill the stairwell and upstairs room at Gallery 9, along with her wearable art and new products to be featured in October. She created and sold her first custom evening gown at age 16, and has been making clothing and costumes ever since. Her wearable art products run under the label of Marie Delaney. Kempe prefers natural cloth, matching the fabric to the task.

“I really enjoy making hats, and have a special form for custom orders that we fill out together, giving us an opportunity to brainstorm and create some design magic. I like things that are one of a kind, one at a time. It feels good when you put it on, almost like it’s vibrating.”