One of those weeks

detail

This week. What can I say. It came and went. It was punctuated by sunshine here and there and a few walks but sadly not as much painting as I had hoped. My schedule that was working so well for me in all ways has been a bit of a jumble since the flu in February and my birthday at the beginning of March. I am hoping to get everything back on track this next Monday.

I've been struggling with balance, health and my mood this week and it has been frustrating. To write a blog last Friday about being excited and then not be able to follow through with that feeling this week felt like a setback. The ebb and flow of living, I am not sure if I will ever get used to it. I am the most optimistic person most of the time, but a good part of the time I also feel like I am on the wheel spinning in circles. Two steps forward six steps back. It was just one of those weeks.

However, I did work on one of the large canvases this week and for that I am grateful. The ebb and flow of painting, I can handle. The images coming and going with the stroke of a brush or a wipe of a rag. Things good but not good enough to stay, get taken out with a few breaths and a quick hand. It doesn't feel scary or hard but simply has to happen. If only I could connect to this life in the same way. A stroke of a brush and a wipe of a rag, putting things in their right place without fear or doubt, simply because it must be.

Until next week, you know what to do.

large work in progress

The start of the future story

How many times do I get to be so excited that I shake, just looking at art? How many times do I get to think up dreamy titles and ideas? How many times will the words and shapes come, that fit the lock to my heart?

How many times will I draw charcoal shapes and feel this thrill? How many times can I repeat myself and not care? How much luxury am I afforded in my work? How many times can I "shift gears" and speak "new languages of line" only to find that I have remained constant and have fooled only myself?

I feel a shake, a rift, a tremor, a tickle, a divine shoogle, a prompt and a want within my work (again). I am holding my jaw tight and my body feels like a rubber band. I am vibrating with ideas and tears come easily to my eyes. I paint over works that were once finished. I draw new shapes on top of older, known and loved ones. I feel the charcoal snap in my hand, I turn the volume up, I dive in and push forward. 

The start of the future story is now.

Layers and layers of things

varnish, hammer, getting the wee ones ready

I am now officially older than I was last week when I wrote and I am glad for that. However my birthday has sort of lingered into a birth week and has dominated the scene. I had a gathering the day before with friends at the pub, enjoyed the day of and then especially the day after. I met up with two lovely friends later in the week as well. However, I still made it into the studio a few times in the regardless. I just realized that when I started this studio blog I was 35 and now here I am at 44. Holy hell. Okay, enough of that wonderment, back to work!

Waiting to be varnished

In studio news, I varnished all my finished small works as well signed, titled, dated and put hanging fixtures on the back of them. I packed one up to post to Glasgow and I wrapped one up for its new home in Edinburgh. I worked on two 30x30" canvases paintings and played with the idea of doing monotypes on paper from some layers of my painting process. I may just do this for my own amusement or for homemade wrapping paper or I may explore it further. I am not sure yet. I do like pulling the paper off and seeing the printed image. 

Print on paper. The shift to the new shapes.

I am enjoying what I am painting currently. There is a bit of a shift happening in my latest paintings and perhaps a getting away from the oblong charcoaled shapes and more of a painted motif of slightly squared shapes floating and locking together. I have a vague idea about receptors in our brains. It's always something unseen on the interior. Anyway, I am interested to see where this is heading. 

Small works glisten like jewels after their varnish

Shimmering, waiting for their new homes

I wish I had a larger painting wall. I would like to roll canvas out, staple it and paint quite large. I would like to work on something much larger than myself that would be more physical in nature and more of a longer term project. This has just come to mind as I type so it will be interesting to see if anything comes of it. Perhaps now that I have written it down it will either come to fruition or be pondered further.

I feel like painting on layers and layers of things, fabric is on my mind right now. I don't do half of the projects I think of and I have no idea why I don't. I want to work with wide brushes, I would like the oblong circles and squares to be as big as me. I want to create a wall sized place to enter and get lost in. Perhaps after I hit publish on this I will go see what a big roll of canvas costs... 

Until next week you know what to do... keep fighting!

My good story

New small works grouping

It was a good and productive week in the studio and it was a relief to finally finish 12 of the 16 small works I had been working on for quite awhile. Everything just clicked into place this week and I was grateful.

Besides these 12 pieces getting finished, I also started a 30x30" canvas in my ongoing yellow series. I am looking forward to getting back into the studio early next week to continue working on that piece. Currently there are 5 medium to large sized paintings in the series as well as these 12 small works.

If last year's series "A Delicate Balance" was brought to you by the color red, this series is definitely brought to you by the color Yellow Ochre. I have also been investigating further what these dark shapes mean and where I want to take them in the future.

I think that's all I have for you this week. I am just so happy to have finished work to share and to be back in the groove. These affordable small works are available for sale over at my Etsy shop, Artmaven.

Until next week. Keep fighting, the world needs you and your art!

Dissonance
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
6x8.5"/15x21cm

Allowed to unravel
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
6x8.5"/15x21cm
sold

Outside voices
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
6x8.5"/15x21cm

Inclusion
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
6x8.5"/15x21cm

Conversation at 3 a.m.
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
6x8.5"/15x21cm

Listen to the wind
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
6x8.5"/15x21cm

To unwind the darkness
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
6x8.5"/15x21cm 

The message
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
6x8.5"/15x21cm

My good story
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
8.5x6"/21x15cm
sold

Within the junipers
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
8.5x6"/21x15cm

Recovering the broken
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
8.5x6"/21x15cm

When the ice began to melt
Acrylic, charcoal, pencil on canvas
© 2016 Megan Chapman
8.5x6"/21x15cm