Ride this wave with me: New paintings and mentoring

I am sitting in the coffee shop, listening to the Brambles (again). I have written several blogs from the coffee shop since my return after the winter holidays. The coffee shop is my generic paradise complete with sickly sweet soy chai, gluten-free biscuits, and free Wifi. It is a simple respite from the demands of the studio, the dishes at home, and the clamor and drink of a pub as well as a wee reward for working hard.

So, now that I have set the scene, let's dig in. It's been a busy week.

First of all, there have been paintings. I worked on a total of four paintings this week and I think I resolved two of them. Here are the studio snapshots of the two pieces.

A slightly smaller piece than what I've been working on in this series but still a good size. 60.9x91.4x4cm/24x36x1.5" Mixed media on canvas

A larger piece, 100x120cm mixed media on canvas

Besides working in the studio, finishing these two paintings and recording the Tuesday studio video visit, I also started mentoring two artists this week! If you recall, last Friday I mentioned I was going to reintroduce mentoring as part of my art practice. I really enjoy helping other artists work through their obstacles. I offer support and am an ally for artists so that they can push through barriers and refine their goals for their art. It was a joy and an honour to work in this way again and it left me feeling very excited and inspired.

So often artists just need a sounding board, someone outside of the situation to survey the scene and offer a little guidance. I get such a thrill when I can step into this role. The two artists I worked with this week, live and work outside of Edinburgh, in other parts of Scotland so we used the benefits of modern technology and worked together through Skype and Facetime. I am looking forward to working with both of them again soon.

Perhaps this is a service you might benefit from or perhaps you have more questions about how I could help you? Please email me at meganchapmanart@gmail.com My fee is £30/hour if we work together online and £35/hour if we work together in my studio and includes a pre-meeting email sharing of what's going on for you as well as a follow-up email summary of our session. Make sure to read last week's blog for a more detailed outline of what I offer and what people have said about working with me in the past. I look forward to hearing from you.

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