Let's go!

"Fear is the cheapest room in the house, I'd like to see you living in better conditions." - Hafiz

One day in early November, I was walking through my flat and the solution came to me suddenly. "I know how it all fits - I know how to make this work!" And with that a plan was finally put into motion, not a thought rolling around in my head endlessly, not a problem or a burden but a hopeful and actionable step. 

I gave my notice at Studio G23 at the Out of the Blue Drill Hall at the start of December. After eleven years it was time to move my studio. 

And so I did. I moved by multiple awkward bus trips and several taxis and somehow bit by bit in between work and other engagements, the move was handled. I am very grateful to my pal Julia for helping me on multiple occasions. Her kind partner Robb helped with the last two loads by car. I can't thank them enough. 

I am also thankful to my close friends who unknowingly kept me accountable by reading my updates as I navigated the process. 

Of course, I also had to patch holes, paint, and clean up the old studio. And even though I haven't recorded a Tuesday Studio Video Visit in ages, I recorded a sign off before I turned off the lights and said my last goodbye to my old studio. 

Memories and ghosts 

Studio G23: December 2014 - December 2025

Once at the new space, I had to set it all up again and reconfigure things. I am not going to lie it was a hell of a lot of work - but also very exciting. All my paintings and materials are back together in one place! I can now work in a light filled space with instant access. A missing piece has been returned and just in time for Christmas and New Year - the ultimate gift to myself. Let me introduce you to my new studio! Join me in my excitement as I begin this new chapter.

space to dream and work

everything in its right place

I still have some fine tuning to do on the new space, furniture to add or take away, and works on paper to organise better, but I am very excited to move forward and return to my work in this space in the new year. I think there will be a bit of a reintroduction of myself and my work, updates to make to my website, and hopefully better ways for us to connect online and in person over my work!

I am thankful to everyone who has made this possible: friends, family, co-workers, my awesome landlady, and my generous ko-fi supporters (Jennifer, Tamsin, Jennifer, and Annie) and of course, my long term patrons. I am also thankful to myself for never giving up and for my resolute dedication to art. It's ridiculously hard to be an artist in a society that doesn't always value or understand what we're on the planet to do, particularly in a culture that often exploits creativity yet still demands gratitude.

I will never forget those who have supported and recognised my work over the years and have made this path just a little bit easier. Thank you. 

Until next week (or year) keep fighting. We need you and the gifts you bring. 
Here's a song for you. 
__________________

PS. I know that I usually write the year end review post on the last Friday of December, but I am leading with the new studio because I'd rather look forward or be in the now (and next week - I will see what the fuss was about in 2025). Looks like we are already shaking things up! Happy New Year when the time comes - and thanks for your support.

Natural light and plenty of tea

I want to lock myself away in a big room that has natural light and plenty of tea. 

I want a big bowl of dirt, some white paint, a roll of canvas and I want to make it dirty and cracked and rub holes into it. I want to work on broken things. Distressed. I want to paint light blue over the dirty cracked white paint. I just want to make 100 broken things and paint over them. 

I have always wanted to paint on dirty and abused surfaces. I don't know why I ever stopped. I really need to start again. 

Lots of exciting things are in the works. Thanks for stopping by and staying tuned for them. You can always visit my link tree and connect with all the things and support my work. 

https://linktr.ee/meganchapmanpaintings

Thank you, 

Megan

We are symbiotic

I need to write a proper long blog. Not for you but for me. I need to sit still and listen inward and reflect. I have been feeling a bit stuck in that department. I have been busy using the other parts of my brain. That has been fine but it's time for a recalibration. 

If I find the right song, the right pathway in - I just need that jumping-off point. 

Typically, I would write about the Abstractionistas exhibition as well as the recent exhibition at the Granton Hub. I just don't feel able to right now. I am thankful for both and I had some good conversations and experiences but I am not quite able to put them into words. 

I am at a crossroads. July is coming to a close (already!?!) - these months, these years, come to a close so fast. 

It was a 4 migraine month, a 2 dentist appointment month, a 2 exhibition month, my 2nd vaccination month and a hell of a lot of bus rides month. So I think I understand why I can't write about much of it yet. So much outward energy expended when I have been living inside for a good while now. 

It also feels like it has been a long while since I have made anything much on the art front. I did happen to record 2 songs this month (more on that one day or never). Part of me thinks I should just get up from my desk and this machine and drag a piece of charcoal down a piece of paper. Just to move... 

I also know that when I decide to move (and I will) that it will pour out of me. So, there is no reason to be concerned. I am working when I am resting and years of working back me up. But, I am curious like a cat about what will come forth. That's the exciting part. I have a relationship with my art - we are symbiotic.

You are part of it. Thank you.

The Andromeda collection and Superman's ill-fitting belt

 

Breadcrumb path to the soul

You wouldn't just let it burn

Mixed media on canvas, 71x87cm. 

Framed in white (with the painting continuing on to the frame)

2019 Megan Chapman

I sit here at my blog writing desk (this is a new thing - I now have a blog writing desk and swivel chair for my art business purposes). I have no idea what to write about but I am here on a Friday attempting to get back into this blog writing groove. Grey sky above, a cup of tea, and the cat next to me, as I look out the window. 

I am waiting for some art supplies to be delivered, nothing major just some paper and some spray fixative so I can tackle the mound of finished work that needs fixing due to my using Conte crayon pastels. The paper will hopefully be used for some new small works that I will mount - think Christmas presents. How can it already be the 20th of November!?! 

I have put on some concentration music on my headphones, I look to the sky and zone out thinking about a potential new accidental portrait I could paint. Remember those? Then my mind turns to wonder if we are all trapped 16-year-olds in ageing bodies or if that is just me. I am thinking about art related to that, but just for a split second - nothing serious. 

I have some small canvas-covered boards I could be working on - another Christmas sized item for your enjoyment and purchase. Fine art for Christmas. Thinking about all the marketing aspects -  fine artists and makers scrambling for sales, attention, new ways of being in this Instagram society. I don't think I imagined this when I graduated from art school over 21 years ago now. I was 4 years "behind" my peers after a stint of doing nothing much at all. I remember feeling so old and so young at 27 when I completed my BFA. And at 48 I still feel so old and so young, I imagine that is how it will always be. 

I take more photographs than paint these days (that's really been the case for a long time), for a split second I remember thinking about switching my major to photography from painting. That would not have made sense and I am glad I didn't and I think the two work well hand in hand. Photography helps me see, and you have to be able to see to paint. I am not talking about with functioning eyes but more with another sense. Photography allows me to see things I am too close to and feeds the information to me in another way that I can more easily digest. Listening to music, writing, and photography are my breadcrumb path to the paintings. I can't have one without the other.

Abstract paintings are the breadcrumb path to my soul and the unseen world outside and they connect me to you if they work right or if you are in the right place to see and receive them. I have cleaned my tiny workspace, I am almost ready to begin again. 

The sky is completely white and featureless, all the angles of the neighbouring houses punch into the air. The negative space loudly proclaims I am here. 

I love sitting in front of windows looking out.

Music is the key that unlocks the door

Dancing in the old house
Original mixed media painting 
200 gsm heavyweight acid-free cartridge paper
A2/16.5x23.4", 2020, Megan Chapman

This week I painted again. After last week's five-piece story, these two larger pieces came tumbling out. Sometimes, it has to do with time and then sometimes it has to do with music. And this week I found a piece of music that moved me. I think music is my most important art material. Without it, there is no work. This work was created while I was listening to the album Henosis by Joep Beving. I have his first albums that I have previously painted to but this one crossed my path this week. I am grateful it did. Music clears the clutter and lets me soar inwardly so I can find the marks and the places that need to be explored and expressed through my art. I use music like breadcrumbs towards a shamanic journey. It is the key that unlocks the door. I have more to say but I just can't seem to put it together just now. Perhaps the paintings can do the talking. 

This is where it starts
Original mixed media painting
200 gsm heavyweight acid-free cartridge paper
A2/16.5x23.4", 2020, Megan Chapman 

Taking stock: A bullet point review

my latest painting

You know how I am about evidence. No matter how hard I try to get away from counting things, I still find it comforts me. I get so busy living that I am not always sure what I am doing. I am amazed by this year and it isn't over yet. 

Time in 2019 has moved so strangely, but it has moved and apparently, I moved along with it. Kudos to all involved. I am thankful for all the support I have been given and the care and subtle magic I have been shown along the way. 

Let's make the abstract more concrete by counting it up. 

I have painted 86 paintings this year, including my major dark series on canvas, books series, and refugee series on paper along with assorted paper sketches and the 4 commissioned paintings for Paper+White back in February (this does not yet include the many other pieces in progress and those studies still floating about my studio and you know there are going to be some holiday works coming soon!).

I participated in 1 solo pop up and 5 group exhibitions, with 3 more group exhibitions on the horizon this year (for a total of 8 group shows). I participated in the 2-day Porty Art Walk Bookmakers market. 

I have had my studio open to the public 4 times this year with 4 more times available before the end of 2019 for a total of 8 simply by tagging on to Markers Marque events, Summer and Winter Arts Markets at the Drill Hall. 

I have recorded 43 Tuesday Studio Video Visits and supplemental video visits about my studio practice.

I have written 41 Studio blogs. 

We raised £550 for Bicycles for Refugees through the sale of 10 of my paper pieces and we put 10 bikes on the road. 

I saw my work on television on True Detective.

I joined the Scottish Artists Union. I went to two of their events, one on basic income and the other a paid consultation on the fair works contract.

I created my art mentoring website and have mentored artists. 

I have worked in a secondary studio residency environment starting this summer.

I entered 4 juried art shows. 

I have attended 13 (or so) exhibitions/art markets/open studio events this year (give or take a few here and there). I am glad I have been able to see as much art as I have this year. It's important to see what is on show and to support your fellow artists, peers, and galleries. 

And yes, there have been sales here and there (thank the painting gods and perhaps, more importantly, my patrons and paper+white for that big commission). So that is my art world. 

In my everyday life, I have managed to see countless documentaries and films about everything under the sun, many docs on painters and a q&a with the directors of "Stories of the she-punks" as part of the DocNRoll festival. 

I managed to read 4 books, and have 4 others in progress and many more I haven't yet started but that I obtained this year. Saw a couple of authors (Matt Haig and Armistead Maupin) give wonderful talks. 

I got to see Peter Hook and the Light play live- and Joy Division tunes made my heart sing. It was wonderful to see such a legend play.

I marched in 5 political/social/environmental justice marches and rallies in the streets of Edinburgh this year. 

I went on 22 adventure walks with friends, seeing parts of this beautiful city but also many places further afield in the surrounding areas of the country. Thank you, James! Thank you, Jane! Thank you, Aoife! 

I have seen friends and family, maintained relationships, and spent quality time in the back garden patio planting things (I must admit it all looks a bit rough right now as the seasons' change- needs an autumnal refresh). I enjoyed the sun when I could and being in nature. 

I have taken countless photographs and spent inordinate amounts of time in front of my computer on social media and plenty of time on stress and worry. During all of this, I was diagnosed with anemia back in the early spring and was on high dosage iron tablets for months and months. I have been consumed by the visa process, passing the life in the UK test, and yet here I am. I have baked and cooked and shared some of my baking and cooking. Overall, it seems I am living a pretty balanced and productive life and that's the best I can do. Perhaps it's time for a holiday... Ha! 

Again, I am grateful for my communities near and far. To quote Joe Strummer as I have often in the past, "without people, you're nothing..." Thank you for being my people. 

Next week I will tell you about the upcoming group exhibitions I will be part of for the approaching festive season as well as when my studio will be open as well. I would love to see you out and about, don't worry there will be some online options as well. 

Keep fighting!

*****************

You can find my work at the following galleries.

The Velvet Easel Gallery

Portobello, Edinburgh

Scotland

Doyle Fine Art Gallery

Glasgow

Scotland

Fenix Gallery

Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA

And of course around the internet on all your favourite channels!

Web: www.meganchapman.com

IG: instagram.com/ethermaven

FB: facebook.com/megan.chapman.artist

Twitter: twitter.com/ethermaven

And of course, at my studio G23, located at 36 Dalmeny Street Leith, Edinburgh EH6 8RG 

Walls too crowded, budget tight? You can still support my work. Click the link to buy me a coffee. Thanks!

Support Me on Ko-fi