Squarely in the now

work in progress 2026

Happy New Year!

I am sitting at my work table in the studio to write this. I am looking out of the windows to the sky. The sun is casting shadows on the buildings around me. I see planes flying into the city over the Forth, I telepathically welcome them. Seagulls gather on roof tops. I am surrounded by my paint, pencils, charcoal, pastels and brushes. All of my available art from the last 11 years is in one place and under the same roof as me and that feels good. 

I worked yesterday and today in my studio - filled with the "begin the year as you mean to go on" spirit. Filling the pages of an old photo album with mark making and collage. Collage has always been foundational to my work, even though I don't like getting glue on my fingers. It's a good starting point.

We've made it through the holidays, the first without my dad. There are many people missing - loss seems to cling to the years but we carry on.

I don't really want to write a year end review blog for 2025. Maybe this is why. The thought of it seems heavy and complicated.

So, I make another cup of tea, plug in my sunshine lamp, eat some dark chocolate and play music on my big headphones instead.

I will get around to the year end review post eventually (because I am a creature of habit and superstition) but not today. I will write it when I am ready -  that's how I work, I move slow and then I move fast. 

I have been thinking about what I want my art to say and mean in 2026. I don't usually think like that as it seems a bit prescriptive but I thought it could be a good exercise. I usually make art as a necessary exorcism or as a reaction to outside forces.

A pal sends a message: the sun is out and it would be good to get out and away from the screen. I leave my blog and make a mad dash out the door.

It was very cold but bright out. We had mediocre coffee in a dark and divey cafe but we had some top notch laughs. I also noticed bunches of somewhat sad daffodils for sale in the shops - it's too soon, but it is good to remember spring is around the corner. I took photos of the shadows. 

Sunshine on number 55

Once back home, I noticed that there was still a good amount of light left at 4pm. 

Now, I can hear the wild wind outside playing my bamboo chimes, and this is where I am going to leave you on this first Friday of January 2026 - squarely in the now. 

With peace and gratitude from my wintering heart to yours. 

Return: Manual for Living II

New Small Works

I haven’t written a blog post in ages. I am currently 9 entries behind this year. I am going to endeavour to start filling the gaps and get back on track. Not because I owe it to you, but because my blog helps me to remember things and ultimately it helps everything else in my life. The following entries will be back dated of course and might be a bit more minimal or image heavy while I try to catch up. To those of you who have checked in here, I hope you will get something out of these entries or at least know I am attempting to work my way back to you.

A lot has been going on behind the scenes and my studio blog and my art practice have been the furthest things from my mind. Everything is a bit of a blur and I am finding it even harder than usual to focus. I am looking back at my calendar, photos I took, and social media posts to help me figure out what was happening, against a much larger backdrop that I either will or will not get into. 

Thanks for being here.

My last blog post was on February 7 and it proved to be a popular one, or perhaps people just kept landing on it looking for future posts. Either way I am glad many of you allowed me to be dramatic and also resonated with the post yourselves.

Overwhelmed with everything going on politically, I was calling my representatives in the United States from Scotland often this week in February, along with posting political actions on social media. I was holding on to the second season of Severance as one thing I could look forward to every Friday evening even when everything else was going to shit. I started a small series of new works this week as well. Ultimately creating 7 new small mixed media collage works on paper and framing them in simple white frames.

These pieces remind me of a condensed version of the “manual for living” series I created in 2010. Seems fitting - we may need a manual now more than ever.
At this time, I can only offer these works to folks living in the UK due to prohibitive shipping costs and the fact that these are framed with glass. If you are in the US and really want one please message me and I will give you a shipping quote. 

Art has the power to inspire and provoke thought, and it can also be a vehicle for change. By purchasing one of these new small works of mine, you are not only supporting my work but also contributing to an important cause. £10 from each sale will go directly to the American Civil Liberties Union helping to defend the rights of all people in the United States.

"With immigrant rights, trans justice, reproductive freedom, and more at risk, the ACLU is in the courts and communities across the United States to protect everyone’s rights."

You can see the entire series together here. You can click the message or purchase buttons next to each image to send me a note of your interest, and if you want to buy the piece, I will email you an invoice with my UK bank details.

Okay, Harriet
mixed media on paper
Art Size A6/14.8x10.5 cm
Framed Size 12.5x16.5 cm
Megan Chapman 2025
£65 (includes 2nd class UK Shipping)
Message for invoice to purchase

Always walking up hill
mixed media on paper
Art Size A6/14.8x10.5 cm
Framed Size 12.5x16.5 cm
Megan Chapman 2025
£65 (includes 2nd class UK Shipping)
Message for invoice to purchase

Please let us go there
mixed media on paper
Art Size A6/14.8x10.5 cm
Framed Size 12.5x16.5 cm
Megan Chapman 2025
£65 (includes 2nd class UK Shipping)
Message for invoice to purchase

Let there be moments
mixed media on paper
Art Size A6/14.8x10.5 cm
Framed Size 12.5x16.5 cm
Megan Chapman 2025
£65 (includes 2nd class UK Shipping)
Message for invoice to purchase

Everything you climb
mixed media on paper
Art Size A6/14.8x10.5 cm
Framed Size 12.5x16.5 cm
Megan Chapman 2025
£65 (includes 2nd class UK Shipping)
Message for invoice to purchase

Where no one walks alone
mixed media on paper
Art Size A6/14.8x10.5 cm
Framed Size 16.5x12.5 cm
Megan Chapman 2025
£65 (includes 2nd class UK Shipping)
Message for invoice to purchase

Holding Electric

mixed media on paper

Art Size A6/10.5x14.8cm

Framed Size 12.5x16.5 cm

Megan Chapman 2025

£65 (includes 2nd class UK Shipping)

Message for invoice to purchase

A small framed piece of work sitting on a shelf using the ladder back of the frame.
These can also be displayed on your wall. 

Thank you for your support and patience as I get back in the swing of things.

Take care of yourself. The world needs you and the gifts you bring. Keep fighting!

Divinations, declarations, and whispers

Divinations, declarations, and whispers
mixed media on unstretched canvas
160x106cm/62.9x41.7"
Megan Chapman  

I spent the rest of last weekend making the seals for the bottom of the painting. Each one is hand stamped and painted. This week I went into the studio to apply them along the bottom of the piece. I also added any glue that was needed on the collage bits and did colour matching where the tape had been holding the canvas up against the painting wall. After that, I spray varnished the painting to protect and seal all the mixed media elements. You can watch the Tuesday Studio Video Visit below for a more in-depth discussion about this if you missed it on social media.

  

Today, I went back into the studio to check the varnish and give the piece a last once over to make sure the charcoal was properly sealed. I also wanted to go over it again with another coat of matte finish varnish. I recorded a couple of quick supplemental videos today that you can see here.

  .

And here

   

After I decided that I was pleased with the varnish and that everything else was in order, I decided to take the painting for a walk through the studio and take a couple of photos of it temporarily installed to get a better sense of it out in the world along with a few detail shots below. 

Thank you again to everyone who has been so interested and enthusiastic about this latest painting. It has been fun sharing this piece and the experience of creating it with you. 

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

Ghosts of the past revisited. Limited edition prints.

 

"You can't make them say the old familiar words their mouths move in different ways"
This is a limited edition, giclée print is on heavyweight archival matte paper (220gsm/81lb) and will be signed and numbered in pencil. The print is A3 sized/11.7×16.5" Limited Edition of 50
 Purchase

"There is too much space here and always of the wrong kind"
This is a limited edition, giclée print is on heavyweight archival matte paper (220gsm/81lb) and will be signed and numbered in pencil. The print is A3 sized/11.7×16.5" Limited Edition of 50
 Purchase

"You are of the land you left behind, you built the land that will remain a stranger"
This is a limited edition, giclée print is on heavyweight archival matte paper (220gsm/81lb) and will be signed and numbered in pencil. The print is A3 sized/11.7×16.5" Limited Edition of 50
 Purchase

"You see the faces of the forgotten and lost as shadows dance around your children" 

This is a limited edition, giclée print is on heavyweight archival matte paper (220gsm/81lb) and will be signed and numbered in pencil. The print is A3 sized/11.7×16.5" Limited Edition of 50

Purchase

This series combines genealogy, poetry, and painting, exploring many aspects of the Scottish diaspora in the United States.

I think of these paintings as giant pages from a weathered picture book of my family’s past. The silhouettes of my Scottish ancestors float across the painted page, while tea and coffee stain the background. The blue represents water, air, and dreams. The map lines connect the figures to their homeland and to each other through time as memories of the past and present haunt and comfort them. A type of poetry bridges the gaps and tells their stories real and imagined. This is my story and theirs but it is also yours and ours...

This is the first time these particular images from this 2013 series have been offered as prints and I am delighted with these A3-sized limited edition reproductions.

I am so thankful for the orders and tips I am receiving just now. 2021 has been much slower for me than 2020 and with fewer grants and less available funding so please know you are making a difference and keeping me going. Thank you! Have a great weekend. - Take care - Megan