Dedication

 

Thank you. 

The tea tastes good

Where my soul roams
Mixed media on canvas
24x24x2cm (framed)
Megan Chapman
£325
Purchase

How can it already be the 18th of August? I lost a good 3 weeks to Covid and now the rebuilding begins. As autumn approaches new ideas come forward - I always feel like the beginning of this season is more instrumental in creating new ways of being than the new year. A holdover from "back to school" days I am sure. I want to learn, I want to grow, I want to change in the autumn - I bought a pack of new pens and I cut my hair. I have a homemade calendar page on the fridge. I am ready.

I watch good films, I read good books, I discover new music. I watch for the first leaves to fall and note the shift in the light. I make plans for the darker days on the way. 

I work, I engage, I participate and help. I plant something silver and sculptural. I make friends and I rediscover my love of photography. The tea tastes good. I am alive. 

Small gestures
Mixed media on canvas
24x24x2cm (framed)
Megan Chapman
£325 
Purchase

Shake me skyscraper...

all that is left behind © 2009 Megan Chapman

I am awake at 4am to bring you the Friday Studio Blog. I was pulled here by the strong winds of my dream, another Tornado dream (I have always had tornado dreams). Thanks to everyone who commented last week and joined the conversation about the "job" of an artist and the mystery of the world. I really appreciated the response and it always gives me new hope for this blog.

Today's entry will be a little more free flowing, with less of a theme. Perhaps some pictures of my studio in a truer state than you have ever seen; an homage to the hopes of Fall, or to the talented soul of Paul Banks who always seems to plug into my head in the most perfect way to shake me up in all the right ways... Let's see what happens.

1. Studio.
As some of you know, I moved into a studio outside of my house and downtown this past May. This idea thrilled me to no end. Thoughts of being free of the clutter and personal traps of home, being around other artists, being a bit more professional with a "real" studio to meet potential patrons, and a steady downtown presence for my work along with the ddp gallery (across the street gallery that represents me). However, I am going to just admit that I have a love/hate relationship with my new studio. I have painted and rearranged it twice, bought more and more lights for it, a new flash studio stereo (we know how I am about my music). Anything to make it better, brighter, and more enticing.

The main problem is the way I started to create a little over a year ago, and that was at 3am. I loved waking up at 3am like a bolt ( there are so many of my old posts that allude to the power of 3am) and stumbling up my steep stairs to my attic studio to paint. Something so appealing about being up at the wrong time, watching the dawn come to life slowly and seeing the lights come on in houses, and knowing I had already worked. I can't talk to people and then work, I can't think about business and then work, I can't worry about you and then work (well, maybe some of you). Anyway- my creative brain just won't stand for any interference from outside sources. It will, but the results never feel as good or strike as hot and fast as they do when I am undisturbed. I use this serene dream/wake time to really let go on the canvas, or even the time spent with my camera. Speaking of my camera, at least I have that- and I do take the majority of my photographs first thing in the morning and this practice has relieved some of the loss I feel from not painting in the wee hours. Maybe someday I will be comfortable enough to roll out of bed and drive to the studio in my pajamas to listen to blaring music, sing and paint at 3am.

Successful art making for me comes right from the edge of sleep, with loud music, singing and dancing. I miss those 3am days. I am determined to make it work somehow... I would love to know where your successful art making comes from? Do you have a set of variables that come together to help you dive into that creative magic time?

2. The Fall.
The Fall is fast approaching, and it is to me the most inspiring, melancholic, and hopeful time of the year. I find it very transporting. A couple years ago I wrote a post about Fall before anyone really read this blog... I think some of my feelings about the Fall and how much it means to me are still valid and worth a revisit. Click here to go back in time. Feel free to share your season of inspiration and passion.

3. Paul Banks (aka Julian Plenti).
If you have been reading this blog long enough or if you know me, you know I love the band Interpol, as they have been a constant source of inspiration for my work for the last 4 or more years. Their three albums, assorted b sides and bonus tracks, videos, and the 4 times I saw them live woke me up from a dull sleep. They got me interested in music again, and in going to see live music again. Music has always been one of the most important things in my life, and it has always taken me away to new places and provided the atmosphere and soundtrack to my life, dreams, and art. Anyway, Paul Bank's is the lead singer of Interpol, and he just released a solo album under the name "Julian Plenti" earlier this month, and I am so excited and inspired! I had been waiting for Interpol to release their 4th album, and I will continue to wait as the 4 of them together create my soul's music, but having a new offering by Mr. Julian Plenti will certainly tide me over in the meantime. As I type, one of his songs is on repeat and I am caught in between the lush wall of noise and his melodic voice. I can't tell you how excited I am to paint, photograph, write, do anything to this album. I have the wind in my sails again. When I discovered his new album, I was shaking as I gave it the first listen through. Oh yes. Julian Plenti...Is Skyscraper will be the soundtrack of my fall. Do you have bands or musicians that have such a strong effect on you?

Here are some samples from the Talented Mr. Plenti ( his album is available on itunes for less than $8.00 or even cheaper directly from Matador)

Skyscraper.
H.



"Babe you played my heart, but the way that you played, it was art...
Oh, this is how we learn."

The Fall

The fall is here, and I love it. It is the perfect time to listen to music and feel the wind and dream about the past and the future. The fall makes things seem too important and deep. I easily get caught up in the romantic versions of my life. Everything feels better, maybe a bit more melancholy, but I am comfortable in this place.

A wistful passion sets in. I long for things I don't have, things I can't even put my finger on. It is a beautiful longing, that I enjoy. It is a type of hope, of leaves falling, poetry, love, and passion. Music in the air and in my mind. My music can't get loud enough for me now. The warm fading light in the tops of trees in the evening. I walk through my childhood streets with my headphones on loud, as the leaves blow across the street. Something growing within me, frustration and intensity. It is a good thing.

When I was a child, I really wanted to let people inside my brain for a while, and that feeling has returned. I really wish you could experience the fall with me. I am returning to myself somehow. I lost my way for a bit, and at least for now, I am walking back home into myself. I have my own priorities and agendas, and they might not make sense or be reasonable and I love that.

The studio is clean, new painting supplies are ordered, a new body of work is waiting to be released. I am ready.

Pictured above, Megan Chapman's "Restore my Grasp"
Mixed Media on Canvas
20x16" 2007
Coming soon to a gallery near you