Caroline Mustard’s iPad art is changing her life – and she’s anxious to pass her knowledge on to kids

UK-born Caroline Mustard painted as a young adult but had long given up her art for more practical pursuits like graphic design and marketing. That changed when her son gave her an iPad for her birthday.

Art once again flowed, this time from her fingers rather than a brush. She’s gone on to be part of the team at the Mobile Art Academy and will be passing her knowledge about creating iPad art to Menlo Park kids as one of the City’s Department of Parks and Recreation class offerings at the Arrillaga Family Recreation Center, starting Sept. 9, continuing through Dec. 9.

“When my son game me the iPad , he also downloaded an app — Paper by 53 — and told me, ‘Mom, I think you’ll like this,'” she recalled. “Not only did I start painting again, I fell in love with it and became pretty good at it.”

Teaching came next. She’s taught in Los Altos and at Menlo School. “The Rec department class is best suited for teens and tweens,” she said. “Kids discover that an iPad can be used for more than just playing games.”

Caroline joins other more famous artists who’ve discovered the iPad as a tool for creating serious art. “David Hockney is one,” she said. “He’s quoted as saying if iPads were around when Van Gogh was painting, he’d have used one. Thanks to the Mobile Artist Collective, I’m made connections with artists all over the world.”

From a teaching prospective, Caroline believes that kids benefit most when they learn how to put their iPad-created art to use in a practical way. “I encourage them to illustrate a book, make a card, or put their art on a t-shirt,” she said.

Caroline also teaches an adult class at the Pacific Art League in Palo Alto on the first Monday of the month.

“This has changed my life,” she said. “It is so thrilling. Here I am in my mid-60s starting a whole new career!”

Photo by Irene Searles