In this world

In this world
mixed media on canvas 30x26"
Megan Chapman 2006
private collection

Waking up to find the sunshine and my cat alive is a gift. The sunshine means he can sit in a pool of light and get warm - one of his favourite things that makes his fading life worth living.

The sun helps me with my anticipatory grief and the sadness of caring for my fading friend. If I were a witch as I surely would have been back in Scotland's dark days, Theo is my familiar. 

Since the last post, there was another vet visit. And this time opioids were prescribed and a 10-day course of antibiotics was administered in a single shot. So many times since then, I thought he was going but he thought differently. So here we are in the sunshine of today. 

Today

Today

Today

I know today is all we have.

It's been intense, awful and sad but today the sun is out and we are here. 

In between the hypervigilance, tears, naps, and friends and family checking on me - I am starting to think about art again little by little - the future. 

I am thankful for the blue skies, flowers, and the spring birds darting back and forth, my brilliant cat Theo, and you.

Be well, take care, keep fighting.

Dear lovely blog readers, 

Thank you for checking in here. I hope you are okay. It is totally understandable if you are not. The world seems quite heavy. 

A few good things I noticed this week: 

Visits with good friends are a balm for the soul. 

Spring flowers are magic. 

A long slow walk with birdsong heals. 

Cats, cats, cats, purr, purr, purr. 

Vitamins might be a good idea and perhaps some more water. 

If you are tired, rest. 

If you are sad, cry. 

If you are angry, let it out.

Here's my Tuesday Studio Video Visit.

My next blog will come to you from a new decade of my life. I will be 50... and I am not yet sure what I think about that, but I know I am one of the lucky ones. Thank you for walking on this path with me. 

Be well, take care, keep fighting. 

Lots of love, 

Megan 

https://crisisrelief.un.org/ukraine-crisis

Ready to start...

Where we meet © 2011 Megan Chapman

This is where one story ends and another begins... I thought I would be writing my year in review blog today, but I was reminded that I still have until next week to do that. So today I will take the time to mention the future.

Soon I will take my first solo trip in a plane and I will take my first trip overseas. I will be going to Scotland on January 10th- May 3rd. I am very excited! I am looking forward to leaving my town and getting some perspective on the world and my place in it. I am looking forward to seeing new things and meeting new people. I am looking forward to the inspiration and the freedom that shooting through the sky will allow. Like time travel, landing in a new place where everything is similar yet different and where I can regroup and become whole again. This has been an exceptional year but it has also been extremely taxing and exhausting. I am hoping to slip through this portal to a kind of renewal.

 I don't think I will return the same person. In fact I know I won't. I am not the same person I was a year ago. I have grown a lot as a person and as an artist through taking calculated risks and by being vulnerable and surrounded by love. I am sure this trip will provide me many opportunities to continue on this path.

Once in Scotland, I am really looking forward to seeing my work on the UNION gallery walls, in their current exhibition Winter Wonderland. As many of you know, I have four pieces from my "Sometimes I love you and other stories" series currently at the gallery in Edinburgh and I have only seen pictures of them. It will be surreal to walk into the gallery and stand before them, there on the wall. I was thrilled when my work was recently mentioned in a review of the exhibition. You can read it here. I was already so pleased to be showing at the gallery but to have my work chosen and written about is an extra special thrill. Validation from an objective source and from someone in another country feels important. I want to remember this moment.

In other happy news,  I just found out that I will have an exhibition of some of my new small works on paper in Edinburgh in February and/or March at a local popular cafe. I am grateful to have this opportunity as it will help me have a focus for my work while I am there. This was one reason for my recent collection of small etsy paintings, I wanted to imagine working in a small space and with simplified materials. I will of course let folks know about the work and the exhibition as it happens. Just stay tuned to my blog to stay in the know.

My exhibition schedule is shaping up for 2012.

February/March: I thought I would find you here, a joint exhibition by Megan Chapman and Stewart Bremner,  Northwest Arkansas Community College, Bentonville, Arkansas.  This exhibition will showcase several of Stewart's individual paintings and mine, teamed with the remaining Question of Chemistry series paintings that we created last May.

February/March: Selected small works on paper by Megan Chapman, Embo, Edinburgh. These will be all new paper works created in Scotland.

July: All new combined paintings by Megan Chapman and Stewart Bremner, Art Center of the Ozarks, Springdale Arkansas. We are very excited to pick up where we left off and create all new works for this exhibition. When we return to Arkansas in May we will get busy painting in the heat of the summer.

I have also submitted my work to a couple of juried exhibitions, I will let you know if I get in any of them and how they impact my schedule in the coming months.

So the future seems bright with travel, love, culture, art and exhibitions. I am also hoping for renewal, big ideas and of course lots of music.

I just want to say thank you again to all my friends, family, art supporters and patrons. I love sharing this journey with you and the support and validation you give me and my work is unparalleled. You have helped me discover my truth, face my fears and live this live. You have been the smiles, the helping hands, the financial support, and the open hearts that I needed this year. You have been the ones I have worked for.  

Thank you.

Something Electric...

The Holidays are almost over now. Family and friends are soon departing and getting back to the work a day world. The holidays come on so fast and strong and just as they start they are over again. I am left wondering if I saw everyone I needed to and if I had the quality conversations I had intended. Overall I think this holiday was a success. I hope yours was too.

I like the in between time, when Christmas fades but the New Year has not yet begun. There is a stillness that comes at this time. A hopeful break, where a myriad of intentions run through my mind for the new year. I am excited by the opportunity to begin again, try one more time, and devise a new plan of action.

I have been taking some time off from painting to rest, visit with friends and family, and regroup and hopefully come up with some new ideas about where my work will head in the coming months. In 2007 I had so many opportunities come up spontaneously that, I did not have this luxury of planning. I seemed more to be painting to fulfill commitments and paint for specific exhibits. I am excited that in this new year I can slow down a bit and think about the direction I want to go, this is both exciting and terrifying. I am one of those people that works well under deadlines and under pressure. The exciting thing is I will get to create my own pressure and new challenges and push myself to reach my own set of new goals. There is still new work to send to the galleries that already represent me, there are relationships in those galleries to strengthen, there are new galleries and publications to submit my work to, and hopefully new clients to thank. New exhibits to schedule, and new opportunities to weigh. There will be paper work to file, blogs to write, websites to update and even redesign, photos of my work to take. So in many ways I know what to expect, and I will keep on the path I have set, and simply kick it up a notch.

However, I feel ( and maybe just because of the time of year again) that there is something electric around me, that something big may happen in my artistic life 2008. I also feel more and more connected to a network of artists and art lovers all over the world, and I feel the support and encouragement of those people. This support is instrumental in helping me break through and be the painter and person that I want most to be.

So, I write this with great excitement and anticipation- with a whimsical hope for all of us. Let this be my year, and your year too. I am eager to return to the studio, where I will put on my headphones, go within and paint for us all.

Happy New Year! I wish you all the best in 2008...


I was recently interviewed by Tim Lane for his MySpace blog "Artist Interviewing Artist." If you haven't read it yet you might enjoy it.
Click here for the interview

See my painting "Two Lovelies" at Remy Fine Art
720 Garrison Ave. Ft. Smith, Arkansas
Open: T-F 12-5
and by appointment.

"Secrets Revealed" Works by Megan Chapman and Steve and P.J. Robowski
December 6-January 18th