Why so serious?

Good morning, mixed media on canvas, 100x150cm © 2026 Megan Chapman

Oh, I know why I am serious. However, sometimes I do need to shake it up and rebel against myself and my "better" judgement. Sometimes, I need to have an opposite day.

I have a deep love and a deep hate of routine - I desperately need routines to help me feel productive and centred but I also need to have a more "organic" and "go with the flow" attitude. When my routine becomes too restrictive for too long, my brain will scream at me, like John Locke from LOST - "Don't tell me what I can't do!" This is a  constant and exhausting battle.

So that's where "opposite day" comes into the mix. I will eat the opposite types of food, drink the opposite types of drinks, move my routine around, or do something I haven't done in a long time. Or be a little less rigid with my own deadlines and plans. Or my goal will be to purposely do something badly that I usually do well.

How this manifested on Friday was that I went to the corner market and bought two Dr. Peppers (this used to be my favourite soft drink when I was a teenager). I don't drink soft drinks these days very often. These Dr. Peppers signal a change in plan and the brain knows we are about to have some fun!

Anyway - I knew I wanted to paint over an old bastard of a painting and I wanted to make something cheerful, in the realm of decor and just for myself (opposites). I wanted to fill a blank wall in my bedroom. 

I also wanted to dance, jump around, and sing. Fueled by my two Dr. Peppers and some nutritional yeast covered popcorn - that's exactly what I did. Music flowed through my big headphones and as I kicked into the air, I was free! 

I covered the large canvas in layer after layer of paint, writing and crossing out words. I faced the painting like a child at a chalkboard at primary school- writing, "I will not worry" over and over again, crossing and painting it out. Later my carefully looped letters wrote, "I will have fun" in white pencil over the pink paint, again to be partially erased and painted over.  As I painted, I danced, sang, and kicked.

I will not worry

I will not worry

I will have fun
I will have joy

I sang along to an old Bad Religion song: 

"Hey, everybody's looking but they never can see
All the angst, corruption and the dishonesty
Look around and ask someone if you are alive..."

Kick, Jump. Paint, Repeat. 

I will not worry
I will not worry

I will have fun
I will have joy

And at the end of a long high energy day, I had created a new painting just for me. Something cheerful and also filled with the punk rock, Dr. Pepper energy of youth. A floating house and my childhood cursive sings across the canvas, "Good morning."

And it was.

Exhibition news and a bit of backstory

Time spent as someone else

Mixed media on canvas

40x50cm

Megan Chapman

£645

On Thursday night, I was "making the scene" at the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Out of the Blue Drill Hall in Leith. It was a large event celebrating the history and just some of the talent that has been a part of making the Drill Hall a storied arts venue.

There were loads of people and lovely food and drinks provided by the incredible cafe staff. The event focused on a stage offering up a rousing performance by All or Nothing aerial dance company set to a remixed cover of Lesley Gore's You Don't Own Me, there was a scene from "Made to Connect" a play written by Duncan Kidd and performed by Active Inquiry. There was ethereal music provided by a talented member of the Clarsach Society. And of course, there was a DJ. New celebratory banners hung high above, created by the Out of the Blueprint, and buckets hung from the ceiling in a bright display. There was also an art exhibition by several resident studio artists. 

The participating artists included:

Felicity Inkpen @felicityinkpen

Solen Collet @solencollet

Cluster Studio 

Elaine Wilson  @elainewilsonvisualart

Daniel Murray @danmurrayartist

Megan Chapman @megan.chapman.artist

Mairi MacSween @mairimacsweendesigns

Catherine Giselle @catherinegiselleart

Precious Metals Workshop: featuring work by Amanda McGrattan, Cameron Murdoch, Eve Smith, and others. 

It was good to see my peers and have some laughs. The residents' exhibition was installed this past Tuesday & Wednesday and it comes down on Saturday, June 1st at 5pm. Blink and you will miss it - so don't blink! 

My blog is being posted a bit late, so if you are reading this on Saturday, June 1st and you are near Edinburgh, you have from 10am - 5pm today to enjoy the show. Pop in, have a coffee, and see some art in a bright, airy, and historic place. 

Out of the Blue Drill Hall, 36 Dalmeny Street, Leith, Edinburgh, EH6 8RG

Now that we have the particulars squared away, I am going to tell you a little about the work I decided to share in the exhibition from my series All The Ways.

Stolen moments

Mixed media on canvas

40x50cm

Megan Chapman

£645

I wrote this about the work at the time.

"Colour has always been extremely important to me. Even though the bulk of this series seems to be covered over with a neutral grey, there are ochres, greens, blues, pinks, Payne's grey and charcoals dancing or wrestling together. The colours are flickering, sputtering, jumping, and clawing their way up out of the grey. There is a faded beauty, something beneath the surface dripping and aching yet energetic, always making its way through the grey. Sometimes the grey is well-known and comforting in its nothingness. This is a series about resilience." 

This series was created in 2017 during the first year of Donald Trump's presidency in the United States. 

The pink was unusual within my more standard palette and its use was a form of rebellion. Trump was in the white house and wreaking havoc. As the world seemed to be getting darker by the minute, I grabbed the pink.

At the time, I didn't talk about this series being a direct reaction to what was happening in American politics - couching it in terms of resilience was easier and seemed more palatable. I think I told a few close friends and trusted patrons, and then I kept it to myself. 

Back to the present - I arrived home from the event and checked the news. There was another reason to celebrate. Donald Trump was found guilty in a court of law. 

It seems more than fitting that these are the selections on display. 

The art never lies.

To hide the best parts

Mixed media on canvas

40x40cm

Megan Chapman

£550