She can see it returning

Currently I get up at 6 am, put a few things order, and then get to work in my studio. I have been working religiously on a personal project for the past 3 weeks. Combining writing, drawing, painting, and collage as well as eastern philosphy and tarot. Brian Eno provides the soundtrack. It's a complete ritual and I am leaning into with everything I've got. 

This type of working is more inline with how I worked in the early 2000s before I had studios outside of my home and I am loving it. 

Things are starting to shift. 

This time in my studio feels a bit like the Tao. I don't want to write or speak too much about it, because words fall short and aren't it. But I see it. I feel it - I even dream it.

This is how it works. 

Hello beautiful green life. 

Hello joyful glowing heart.

Reclaiming my time

Processing

I am thankful that I wrote last week's post as it seemed to lessen an existential burden and helped me to solidify my thoughts. And this week, the flood gates opened - a whole series, a whole concept, and something that I had been wanting to do, came to me as a completed vision. Well, complete enough to begin.

But I had to set the scene for my brain and for the concept to feel safe enough to show up. I needed time and I needed the right internal environment. I needed to trust the vision.

The relief I feel is immense and I am sleeping better than I have in ages. The food tastes delicious, the music is wondrous, and the films I watch are masterpieces. The birds are singing and the grey skies are perfect. I am in flow. Hello, old friend. Hello, Megan. I am glad to be back. 

I don't want to write much about the actual concept just yet as we are in the protection and nurture phase but I am excited and this has been a long time coming.

Wherever you are I hope you are well and inspired. Keep fighting.

She is an imaginary girl

This girl from Arkansas was influenced by David Lynch

Dear Readers, Art Lovers, and Friends,

It was fitting that the soundtrack to last week's post was "Dark Night of the Soul" featuring David Lynch.

I was so shocked to hear of his death that I actually gasped out loud when I read the news in a message from my brother Sean. I wrote a few friends in particular who I knew would be upset and then I shed a few tears myself. I started watching old clips and reliving memories that revolved around David Lynch's work and art.

Like many others, I took to the internet to share my feelings:

"I'm so sad about this loss. David Lynch gave us so much vision and new ways to see. He offered up validation and permission. Meditations on darkness and love. Twin Peaks beaming into the house when I was in high school was as important to me as witnessing the dawn of MTV when I was child. Style, colour, art, mystery - everything was suddenly available to me. I could understand my own sensibilities and appreciate them even in Arkansas."

Looking back, I realise how much he had influenced me in the 80s and 90s and how he continues to influence me today. How often I quote his work. He was and will forever remain a true artist and an original. We are so lucky for all he gave us. 

Thank you, David Lynch for sharing your vision.

Two Sad Clouds, mixed media on paper, Megan Chapman, 2024

Temptation, mixed media on paper, Megan Chapman, 2024

How can we best show up in this crushing world with our own singular visions? How can we support each other and ourselves in our purest most expansive forms? How can we bring more delight, humour, wonder, and understanding into this world?

Let's catch some ideas.

200 breadcrumbs to get to this place

A stack of my latest paintings on paper

March. It's been one hell of a month. I am feeling pretty worn out and grateful to have arrived at the weekend. I haven't been using words on the studio blog lately as I am using them elsewhere. 

This David Lynch meme found on the internet is relatable.
Just substitute painting for the word film. 

The sun brightens the room after a series of darker and stormy days. The light is lovely, though my phone tells me more rain is coming in a couple of hours. I am content to sit in the sun (however temporary) and listen to music as I type. 

I have painted over 200 pieces since the 29th of January. Of course, many are just process works - breadcrumbs on the path to somewhere else. Right now, it's all about returning to the energy and the regularity of the practice. This flurry of activity has been about getting reacquainted with why I paint and draw at all. It's about why I have painted and drawn my entire life. 

It's always a re-learning at first, or it feels that way. The return. What lines, what colours, what movements, what compositions, what materials, what moves me? What moves my hand, eye, brain, and heart? What lines are mine, and which lines are borrowed? Do I lean on a trick, a technique, a motif? And why do I lean on it? What does it say about me and how I want to feel? Is it a trick? All the questions swirl and dance while I work. The music is perfect. The music isn't right. Go back again and repeat the song that works - the song and the line meld and get stronger. Taking me away. 

Just this past week, the work is starting to trust me again. It's holding me for longer and is starting to talk and tell me where to go. I have had to paint these 200 breadcrumbs to get to this place. Painting is a relationship one must tend. 

Thank you for being here and for all the positive feedback I have received about these latest pieces of work. I appreciate it. I can't and don't want to create in a vacuum. The process and ritual are for me, but the work needs you too. 

Consider leaving me a wee tip for the paintings (48 over on Facebook) I have shared for free this month. Thank you for supporting my work. 

Special thanks to my monthly supporters: Jennifer Libby Fay, Tamsin Haggis, Jennifer Douglas Arbuckle, and the late Pat Bremner. 

Resilience factory

Yesterday's parties
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

To be left untethered
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

This is how we tell the story
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

Resilience factory
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

Dancing in the old house
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

Where we left off
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

We took a wrong turn
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

States of being
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

Could I tell you anything more

mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper

42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"

©2020 Megan Chapman

£475

Under the surface

mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper

42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"

©2020 Megan Chapman

£475

The maps have changed

mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper

42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"

©2020 Megan Chapman

£475

False dynasties

mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper

42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"

©2020 Megan Chapman

£475

This is where it starts

mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper

42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"

©2020 Megan Chapman

£475

Way down inside
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2021 Megan Chapman
£475

I know the way
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2021 Megan Chapman
£475

The above works are now all varnished, titled, signed, and dated on the back. I really enjoyed creating this collection of bold drawings and paintings on paper in 2020-2021. I think they are quite special and I hope you will too. There is strong alchemy weaving through all of these. I am packing them up in clear sleeves and backing boards and getting them reading to share, show, and ship! 

I will be participating in the Christmas Exhibition and Makers Market at the Edinburgh Palette on London Road in Edinburgh, the 11th and 12th of December from 12-4pm in the 3rd-floor galleries at St. Margaret's House. I will have three paintings on the walls of the gallery and I will also have loads of works on paper and canvas in the Makers Market along with my fellow Abstractionistas at our stall! So put it on your calendars now and plan to come and see us and our dynamic work (covid restrictions permitting of course). We look forward to seeing you! 

Here's my Tuesday Studio Video Visit showcasing a few of the small works I will have available at the Abstractionistas stall.

Don't forget I am also having an ONLINE STUDIO SALE with ten of my paintings listed at 50% off. Click to SHOP the sale here. Ideally, you can come and collect these works from my studio but if you are in the UK and want them shipped please don't let that stop you from contacting me. I am sure we can arrange something.

That's it for the Friday studio blog this week. Thank you for joining me - hope to see you out at the market and exhibition and of course always online. Take good care - Megan 

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.

This is how we tell the story

Accidents happen.

Paint to paper, charcoal to hand, the lines are drawn.
We are on standby, so we wait and see.
The magic happens when you are not looking.
Their shapes now rearranged.
This is how we tell the story...

Yesterday's parties
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

To be left untethered
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

This is how we tell the story
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

Resilience factory
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

Dancing in the old house
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

Where we left off
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

We took a wrong turn
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

States of being
mixed media on 200gsm acid-free paper
42x59.4cm/16.5x23.4"
©2020 Megan Chapman
£475

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 

Our family tree made of charcoal dust

I spent Sunday at my open studio enjoying the conversations I had as people wandered in and out throughout the day. Not a penny was made. I notice I feel almost apologetic to "admit the truth" when folks ask me how it went. Making a penny would have been nice but it wasn't my sole aim, it never has been. I'm here for the banter, I said as I smiled.

After getting my studio organised for the event, I decided to continue the fun by hosting an online studio sale as the week went on. It's important to have a good clear out every once in a while as well as staying true to my belief that art is for all or that at least it can be for most. While my gallery pieces may retail for higher prices, I always try to keep some smaller paper works, process pieces, and sketches back at more affordable prices.

20x16"/ 50x40cm 2018
Mixed media Linen textured archival paper
SOLD

Decay paper series
23x23cm/9x9"
Heavyweight folded cotton rag paper
charcoal not fixed, handle with care and frame
Signed on back
SOLD

I'm delighted that two works on paper from my studio sale sold yesterday. After twenty plus years of being a painter, each sale is still celebrated, each sale gives me hope and encouragement and helps me live this artist's life. Whether £5.00 or £5,000 each one is a thrill and I am honoured and thankful. The painting part may be a solitary venture but the sharing of my art and a patron deciding to live with my work is an act of solidarity, community, and support that I never forget.

This is a delicate balance- this life and calling. I gingerly walk on a high, fine line. My patrons are the net below. My faith in the alchemy of art helps guide each step forward on the path. I am here for the craft, the mystery, the freedom (and the banter too). I am here because I know this is where I belong and it's through painting that I find myself and my community. This is our high, fine line walking lineage. This is our family tree made of charcoal dust.

Thank you.

Dark Sketches Transition number 1
Original, signed on the back
Mixed media on acid-free 300 gsm/140lb Watercolour paper
A5 size/ 210 x 148mm 8.3 x 5.9"
£45 Free Shipping in the UK. Contact me for details.

Dark Sketches Transition number 2
Original, signed on the back
Mixed media on acid-free 300 gsm/140lb Watercolour paper
A5 size/ 210 x 148mm 8.3 x 5.9"
£45 Free Shipping in the UK. Contact me for details.

Dark Sketches Transition number 3
Original, signed on the back
Mixed media on acid-free 300 gsm/140lb Watercolour paper
A5 size/ 210 x 148mm 8.3 x 5.9"
£45 Free Shipping in the UK. Contact me for details.

Message from an unknown sender

I went to the studio on Monday and a new painting showed up; dark, veiled, and mysterious. Filled with broken rules, muddy colours, and no distinct vantage point. It came fast and strong, the title too. This was a message from an unknown sender. A message that I was very happy to receive. It unnerved and excited me and provided some sense of relief.

The start of a new series brings a type of fever and remembering back into the process of painting. I love having a framework, the foundation to work and play in. I need a reason. I don't paint because I don't know what else to do with my time or hands. Honestly, I spend a lot of my time resisting painting. Balancing that uncomfortable dangerous undercurrent, that anxiety that will finally push me to get back to the "serious" work (whatever that means). This week the "serious" work showed up again. The kind of work, I love the most.

Just as I love the colour white and most colours (really - look back at my earlier work), I also love black and darkness (again, look back at my earlier work and the "dark landscapes"). We were trained not to use black and white if you could ever use another colour. I like breaking rules. Muddy paintings are also considered bad form, and some of my earlier paintings are so clean and vibratory you'd think a machine painted them. But, I like a bit of mud, a dirty veil on the surface of the painting, a bit of dullness over the brighter colours below. Remember the shock after they cleaned the Sistine Chapel ceiling... I liked it before (and after). Think of all the reproductions we have come to love because we were looking at old, yellowed and dirty paintings before they were cleaned and restored.

Darker paintings might not work with your decor or match your sofa, they might not sell in galleries as easily as their colourful and "fun" fellow paintings (I know this to be true - why do you think I stopped with the dark landscapes). Darker paintings will, however,  thrill me and I think that is a very good reason to receive their message. So I call out to the darkness and crack open the studio door, I invite it in. The dark warmth envelopes, the other colours reach out from underneath, the veil lifts and welcomes us into the fold with mystery and yet something familiar we all recognise.

Until next week, keep fighting.

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