Exhibition news! Ko-fi support and more!

Exhibition news:

The Abstractionistas in collaboration with GOSSIP Collective and Forth Valley B.A Students

DuSt
Saturday 9 October 2021 - Sunday 10 October 2021
Open from 11-4 pm
Bannockburn House
Stirling
FK7 8EY

Megan Chapman, Judith Shaylor, and Susan Wilson are the Abstractionistas. These women bring a depth of experience in the arts and a firm dedication to abstract expression, each one striking a different chord with their use of colour, line, space, and drama. The goal of the collective is to create more opportunities to share the enduring importance, power and pull of abstraction with viewers across Scotland.

The Abstractionistas are delighted to join forces with the GOSSIP Collective and the Forth Valley B.A. Students for this exciting two-day exhibition in the historic Bannockburn House.

Abstractionistas:

FB: https://www.facebook.com/Abstractionistas
IG: https://www.instagram.com/abstractionistas

GOSSIP Collective:
FB https://www.facebook.com/GossipArtCollective
IG: https://www.instagram.com/gossipartcollective

Bannockburn House:
FB:https://www.facebook.com/BannockburnHouse
IG:https://www.instagram.com/bannockburnhouse

I hope you will join us if you are able.

Casting spells on paper: One pigeon wing to tether a ghost's heart

In other news, I have continued on with my mark-making exercises to help me get out of my rut and return to remembering my foundations. After working on several small paper pieces/exercises, I moved on this week to six A2 sized papers and spent a bit longer with my marks and actually got to a place I liked. It was a good feeling. I shared those works over on my ko-fi page for my supporters as soon as I had them documented.

As I mentioned over there, I enjoyed the introduction of my favourite inky pen to the mix along with Conte crayon, charcoal, oil pastel and white paint and some words (I have shared one of the six drawings above).

As I wrote to a supporter, I am trying to get into the habit of always posting on Ko-fi first rather than on my social channels and sharing more behind the scenes work rather than always finished products. It's a bit of a hard switch as of course there are more eyes on the work over on Facebook and Instagram but at the same time, I would like to create a more intimate relationship with my supporters. The hard part is also getting people used to coming over to ko-fi to see things and to perhaps support me financially. We will see what develops.

Speaking of ko-fi, I am having a shop wide sale until midnight October 3rd. I wanted to celebrate the anniversary of my 7 years of living in Scotland along with my 1 year anniversary of becoming a citizen! To take advantage of the sale all you need to do is click this code everything in my shop is 10% off. https://ko-fi.com/meganchapman/link/SCOTLAND

Thanks to the two patrons that have snapped up two of my "ghosts of the past" limited edition prints from my shop sale! These selections are inspired by the Scottish diaspora (as seen below).

There is too much space here and always of the wrong kind

You are of the land you left behind,
you built the land that will remain a stranger

And of course, I am still creating my Tuesday Studio Video Visits, please visit my YouTube to catch up on those, if you have been missing them.

That's all I have for you this week. I hope you are well, happy, and inspired and at the same time, it's okay if you are not. I get it - just keep fighting. Point your face towards the sky and take good care of yourself. We need you and your gifts.

Thanks for spending some time with me and my work.

Find inspiration (whatever that is)

As I write, I see the neighbour's sheets billowing in the wind as they hang on the line to dry. 

I went for an hour-long walk today - nowhere fancy just the usual paths. I didn't listen to music, just the wind in the trees and the birds, footsteps and breath. I felt the coolness in the air, watched over the ferns growing in an old wall and the dappled light filtering down into the old railway path. 

I have been down lately and my foundation, askew. 

So it's time to build the foundation back up, slowly, mindfully. Walking alone in nature is one way I can do this and as autumn approaches yet again, walking is a proven and tested remedy to the extra darkness that will come soon enough. 

I have been hard-pressed to find inspiration (whatever that is) and that makes it harder to create anything. 

So, I am taking creating anything off the table for now. My new goal (thanks to a friend) is to just make marks for a while each day. Inspiration is really a habit and so many of our habits have been challenged. I am no different. So I set a timer for 15 minutes and made marks and enjoyed it enough that I set the timer for another 15 and made more marks and then I went for my walk. And this is how I will return to something that I can depend on. I'll walk and make marks. 

The Abstractionistas have a couple of exhibitions planned for October and November and we are excited. But more on that next week.

For now, make marks, walk, rebuild (again). 

Keep fighting.

Exhibitions, Studio Visits, Ko-fi and more!

What a lovely weekend we all had at the Inception exhibition in the Dalkeith Palace at the Dalkeith Country Park! It was great to meet so many fellow artists, see friends and associates, and make new and renewed connections over art in such a wonderful setting. Congratulations to all involved and thanks to everyone for coming out in support. You can enjoy my complete ‘Echoes and Memory’ series on my website.

For those that may have needed a bit more time to think about a potential purchase, my studio G23 is located at The Out of the Blue Drill Hall in Leith and is open by appointment - please message me through my website to arrange a viewing. 

You can also find my work at Solo Gallery in the Scottish Borders and Helensburgh Art Hub on the West Coast.

I was delighted to make it to my studio this week as well, here's my Tuesday Video Visit as proof! 

   

In other news, I worked on fine-tuning my membership tiers over on my Ko-fi page. There are lots of lovely perks over there in exchange for your support. Check them out.

The Wall of Fame is just one of them... 

Thanks to everyone who has supported me with a one-off tip or cup of coffee, a monthly donation, or has now joined one of my new membership tiers! Your support keeps me on the path and the lights on! Do you want to see your name on the wall of fame and receive other great perks? Please support my work through a one-off gift or a signing up for a monthly tier.

To round out the week, I saw my peers Judith Shaylor and Susan Wilson from the Abstractionistas during our collective meeting online. We are making future exhibition plans... stay tuned! 

Until next week, keep fighting! The world needs you and the work you bring. Thank you.

Inception opens TODAY!

Inception opens today Friday, September 10th from 10-6pm and will be open again on Saturday, September 11th and Sunday, September 12th from 10-5pm at the incredible Dalkeith Palace. If you haven't bought your tickets yet you still have time to snap some up and make a weekend of it!

I installed my work on Monday and the five paintings fit the space perfectly and the colours harmonised. It was a magical moment. You'll have to come and see it for yourself.

Join us for ‘Inception’ at Dalkeith Palace at the Dalkeith Country Park.

Participating artists:
Frances Bell
Kelly Anne Cairns
Megan Chapman
Christine Clark
Walter Dalkeith
Domenica de Ferranti
Katy Eccles
Ripley
William Foyle
Jonathan Freemantle
Taisir Gibreel
Claire Gillie Thompson
Frippy Jameson
Nancy Macdonald
Hatti Pattisson
Craig Rae Ferguson
Elaine Speirs
Christiana Spens
Gill Walton
Julia Trotter

I’ll have these five works on two walls on the first floor upstairs in what was once the palace nursery and I’ll have five smaller framed pieces available in the pop-up shop on the main floor. Looking forward to meeting all the artists and greeting the patrons! 

Tickets: https://www.dalkeithcountrypark.co.uk/events/inception-art-show/

Lots more exciting news next week! Stay tuned! See you this weekend!

Wherever you go, there you are

September is here. Autumn approaches. 

I can't say that I am exactly ready for it. Time moves so quickly and I am not looking forward to the short, darker and wet days. 

I have to borrow inspiration. I can feel that seasonal new beginning feeling around the edges of things if I close my eyes and try (like making a wish on a birthday cake). Like the best parts of a "back to school" montage from my youth. A time of reinvention. Every autumn I tried to be someone else - I believed it was as easy as changing your hair and makeup while trying to emulate a Benetton or Espirit advertisement from my Seventeen magazine. It never worked and the weird, old soul, new waver/art-punk kid emerged after a few weeks.

Wherever you go, there you are.

I am sort of ready to get clear on what that weird, old soul, new waver/art-punk now squarely middle-aged woman needs right now in her life, in her work and in her community. I am thinking the next 6 months may need to be radical and filled with hard work and deep truths. 

I haven't been painting much lately - mainly because I feel that I have exhausted the home studio capabilities. I am ready to "fuck shit up" with paint and I can't do that in a rented house. Also, I have a perfectly good studio just waiting for me. It's so complicated. The studio costs money, getting to the studio costs money, covid is still out there (public transport). Making art costs money and I have a studio full of completed paintings just waiting to find homes. Art sales have slowed to a stop and it almost feels decadent to paint more things to store, document, and archive. I have been quite down about it. I wrestle with the whole point of this art thing. The market is saturated, everyone's work starts to look the same, and social media can feel like a cornucopia of shite. 

However, regardless of my feelings, opportunities keep showing up and I am prepared for them and this is a good thing. 

Helensburgh Art Hub

Dalkeith Palace

Solo Gallery

And a visit to Bannockburn House as a potential venue for the Abstractionistas collective. Enjoy the latest Tuesday Studio Video Visit if you missed it. 

 

I am honoured to be a Ko-Fi ambassador and feel truly supported by the Ko-fi platform. I will be launching my membership tiers in the coming days with lots of wee treats and rewards for my ko-fi friends when you become a monthly supporter. I am excited to be getting that in order. 

Don't forget I also sell my small works and prints exclusively through my Ko-fi Shop.

I am learning new skills, networking and trying to get clear.

I've been hitting the yoga mat more regularly again and soon, I will be out exploring on more walks (as I do walk more in the autumn and winter here in Scotland to make sure I get the light and nature I need). 

I even have an idea for a future body of work so that is a good sign. 

This is such a weird gig. Being a painter is like putting on ill-fitting clothes, all the seams are wrong and it's been cut strangely but you still love them, even though you can't lift your arms or sit. 

This is my blog, my space, my truth and my feelings and there is nothing to fix. 

Bring on the soup, the cosy jumpers, the long walks, the plans, the dreams, and especially the "fucked up" art. 

Let's get radical.

Thanks for being here.

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

Exhibition News! Inception

INCEPTION

A brand-new art show to be held at Dalkeith Palace from 10th-12th, September 2021.

Meet Inception. An exciting new art sales exhibition launching this September, showcasing the work of handpicked British artists. In a world adapting to Covid-19, Inception has been created to allow artists, who have endured extremely tough times over these past 20 months, to collaboratively present their collections to the public. Artists’ collections will be shown in ‘found spaces’ within the wonderful Dalkeith Palace. 

An impressive roll call of respected artists, sculptors and painters have already signed up to present their work. Pop onto the event page for a full list of exhibitors. The show is open from 10am – 5pm on 10th-12th September. Entrance tickets cost £2.50 and are now on sale 

https://www.dalkeithcountrypark.co.uk/events/inception-art-show

I am delighted to have been invited to show my work alongside an impressive group of my peers at the gorgeous Dalkeith Palace. I hope you will get tickets and come out to see some beautiful art in this extraordinary place. This will be the first time the palace, built in 1702, will be open to the general public so I feel very honoured to be showing my work in this building filled with such history. 

I will be sharing more images and details about the upcoming exhibition as we get closer to the event. It's very exciting! I don't think I ever imagined showing in a palace in Scotland! 

In other news, my YouTube channel is ticking along, now with 247 videos and podcasts to watch and listen to. I filmed my first Tuesday Video Visit in a while and it is now available to watch there as well. If you haven't subscribed to my channel yet, please do. I need 100 unique subscribers to get my own unique URL for my channel. I am very close, but I think a few of my lovely and passionate subscribers signed up multiple times (thank you) and I am not sure if YouTube is counting those efforts in my total. 

Here's the latest Tuesday Studio Video Visit in case you missed it.

 

And don't forget you can find my work at Helensburgh Art Hub in Helensburgh and Solo Gallery in Innerleithen and you can also support my work on Ko-Fi and purchase my prints and smaller works there as well. 

I need and appreciate your support. Thank you! 

I hope you are well, happy, and inspired where ever you are. Keep well - we need you, and the magic you bring. Keep fighting.