Studio life, routine, sales!

Stolen moments

40x50x4cm

Mixed media on canvas

© 2017 Megan Chapman

£585

Available through The Velvet Easel Gallery

This week was fabulous. I worked in the studio from Monday through Friday. I also returned to my yoga and meditation routine. In short, I returned to my natural way of being.

I deep cleaned my studio, gave all my brushes a good wash and organized my storage and just reconnected with the space. It was so good to be there, to drink my tea there, to see the familiar faces and walk the streets of my old neighbourhood.

Time spent as someone else

40x50x4cm

Mixed media on canvas

© 2017 Megan Chapman

£585

Available through The Velvet Easel Gallery

After my deep clean, I decided to have an impromptu studio sale over on my Facebook Art Page. I am grateful to say that eighteen pieces have since sold from the sale. This will enable me to pay my studio rent for a little over 3 months and provide some peace as our budgets have been severely stretched as both the studio and the flat rent went up considerably.

The sale continues with new works (mostly smaller, older, and some stranger) added and there are some ridiculous deals to be had. In the end, it comes down to space and money and I need both. Thanks again for your support.

Precipice

50x40x4cm

Mixed media on canvas

© 2017 Megan Chapman 

£585

Available through The Velvet Easel Gallery

In other news, this past Saturday I delivered 4 pieces to be included in the "5 Years" exhibition at The Velvet Easel Gallery. These works are from a series painted in 2017 called "All the ways." You can see them here, peppered through this blog post. I have now been showing my work with The Velvet Easel for the past year and I am really delighted to participate in this show celebrating the gallery's success over the past 5 years of business. Join us on Nov. 3rd for the opening. It's an all-day drop-in affair so if you want to make sure to meet up with me there, send me a message or comment so that we can coordinate.

Far away

40x40x4cm

Mixed media on canvas

© 2017 Megan Chapman

£550

Available through The Velvet Easel

Don't miss it. 

There are a few other art related things happening on the backburner and I will tell you about those soon.

Keep fighting because just when you are ready to quit, it might just get good again, so hang on. With gratitude until next week.

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Do you enjoy my blog, my video visits, the paintings I share, or the other content that I provide for free across social media? Consider buying me a cup of coffee in support of my work. I am a member of Ko-fi.com, A friendly way for creators to get paid! Thank you!

Return to knowing

Finding centre
mixed media on paper
30x30cm/50x50cm framed
£325

Return to knowing
mixed media on paper
30x30cm/50x50cm framed
£325

The Dark Anchor
mixed media on paper
30x30cm/50x50cm framed
£325

The Wind is an Ocean
mixed media on paper
30x30cm/50x50cm framed
£325

New works on paper pair well with this. 

Listen. Feel. Absorb.

Until next week, you know what to do.

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Do you enjoy my blog, my video visits, the paintings I share, or the other content that I provide for free across social media? Consider buying me a cup of coffee in support of my work. I am a member of Ko-fi.com, A friendly way for creators to get paid! Thank you!

Come to centre

I put my hands together at my heart centre. I breathe in and I breathe out. I put my hands together at my third eye and I breathe in and out. I put my hands together at my lips and breathe in and out and then back to my heart.

I bow to us all. 

May all beings have happiness and the causes of happiness. 

May all beings be free from suffering and the causes of suffering. 

May all beings rejoice in the well being of others.

May all beings live in peace free from greed and hatred. 

I do this every morning after I meditate and practice yoga. This has become non-negotiable, an anchor to begin my day and to connect with myself and the world. 

I am grateful for this peaceful and kind practice. I am not trying to get anything or earn anything or be anything that I am not. I am simply coming to my centre.

And then everything else comes from there. My art, my intentions, my speech, my love, my relationships. I am not superhuman, I fuck up plenty, but the goal is to come from the centre. To live and work from this congruent place.

Yesterday, I was fortunate to ramble through the centre of the Pentland Hills to walk in the valley and see and feel the vastness of the landscape and just how small I am. I had the space to notice how small my worries, fears, and perceived problems are too. The day before I had been stressed, running from bus to bus from appointment to appointment with a mind filled with expectations and hopes. The next day I was free. I was sitting on an old low child's swing under a tree canopy in the Pentland Hills, surrounded by nature and sheep. Returned to centre. 

When I got home I wanted to dream of the place when I slept. I didn't, but I don't need to. The place is within.

I approach my best art from this place. Expansiveness. Creating something from nothing, art is a divine expression personal to me but able to reach and connect with many. This is not something to expect things from, this is a gift to be nurtured. What if I approached art from the same place as my morning meditation and yoga practice? 

"I am not trying to get anything or earn anything or be anything that I am not. I am simply coming to my centre."

Let's see...

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Do you enjoy my blog, my video visits, the paintings I share, or the other content that I provide for free across social media? Consider buying me a cup of coffee in support of my work. I am a member of Ko-fi.com, A friendly way for creators to get paid! Thank you!

Reminder. Next Friday, Sept 21st. 7-9pm.

Between Memory and Story: Selected Works of Megan Chapman a week from today at the The Out of the Blue Drill Hall September 21st  from 7-9pm. as part of Maggie's Centres Culture Crawl in Edinburgh.