I will follow

 

It's a found life for the pack of us

Book. 2019. Available £150

As I mentioned last week, this month I am focussing on my Book Series. The book series was created in 2019 as a follow-up to the original books that I created to earn my BFA in Painting and Drawing from the University of Oregon in 1999. 

I thought it would be fun to share the following review of my exhibition from back then. The last time I shared this was in 2008, so seems like it is time again. 

What follows is a spontaneous review of my show I found inside my comment book, written by my old friend Hayyim (Howard) Cohen. We worked together side by side in little cubicles selling the newspaper in a tiny downtown office and became fast friends in the 90s in Eugene, Oregon. He would share his New York Times Arts section with me during breaks.



Megan by Hayyim Cohen (written in 1999)

"Combining subversive parody, red (life), black (nothingness) and white (blinding light), duct tape to shut out the noisy excess, upholstery tacks, and the dead bodies of obsolete technical books, Megan Chapman (see your dictionary- "Chapman" means seller) creates lyrical southern "talkin' blues" between the pages of discards (found objects) she collects from the free bins of the Smith Family bookstore in Eugene Oregon.

Providing at her B.F.A. commencement (the beginning of her life as an artist) a comfortable pink sofa with fresh green throw pillows, a little Gene Autry and "A Sunday Kind of Love" musical background for a gathering of "found" people who "read" her books often with whimsical smiling faces.

Megan nails the defunct corpses of old books (now frames for her poems and designs) on the gallery walls with the tacks she loves, this is interspersed with machine blowups of her photographs, which add a nice contrapuntal theme to the shards of books behind the sofa and on the coffee table. Megan is a southern woman and now she has a B.F.A. to nail to the wall when she goes home (tell your Maw, tell your Paw I'm gonna send you back to Arkansas - population 40,002). It is all here in the art, the depths of introspective experience, from one who knows how it all fits together in the package. It's a "found" life for the pack of us, don't you think? Megan has definitely found something...to do and to make a difference, and she does it all with southern hospitality to boot!"

I am so fortunate to have this nugget, and like the art closed up in those old altered books, I thought this needed to be aired out and shared. My friend, Howard did this on his own accord, and I am grateful for his tangents and details; his writing helps me to remember myself at that time, as well as the show and the atmosphere.

Hope you enjoyed this review from the past. Have a lovely weekend. 

Book. 2019. £150

This message rode on the wind

And so everything is different now. Book. £150

This week has had a good flow to it for the most part and I am grateful.

I have seen daffodils, primroses, a bud on a rose bush, snowdrops, and crocuses. I even saw some yellow flowers I don't yet know the name of and I saw some faint green high up in the top of a tree. The wind continues to be wild but the light is returning and today it was even quite mild. 

I love hearing the birds start singing at 3am. 

I saw "All of Us Strangers" this week and thought it was a beautiful long-form poem of a film. Highly recommend. I listened to loads of my favourite old music and it could not have sounded better. I went to a couple of charity shops and found some good things. I took a photograph that made me happy. 

This week I enjoyed cooking simple meals, drinking green tea, and reading from a book about Zen with my morning porridge. 

It was one of those weeks. 

But this is an art blog so I suspect you might want to see or hear about some art. Last month, I focused on just 8 paper pieces and some prints. This month, I think I will feature my book series. A series very close to my heart and part of my painting origin story. 

I sold a small book piece at the open studios in December and it reminded me of how important that series is to me. I look forward to sharing it with you again. 

I know you must be tired. Book. £150

It was a pretty good week and many people helped to make it so.

Thank you.

Prints and Paper! What's next?

Available prints range in price from £20-55

What!?! It's the last Friday of January.

I hope you have had a good month. On the art front, this month was all about paper and I am very thankful that I sold three of the paper pieces I featured (thank you, patrons!). There is still time to add to this total before the end of the month, so please do. I miss my post office/graveyard walks and I would love to post one of these pieces to you. 

Last weekend I decided to throw some prints into the mix. Usually, my prints are printed to order but I have a small collection of them that are already printed and ready to go - make use of this, no need to wait for these printed beauties! 

I have added them to my archive site, when you hit the purchase button it just sends me a purchase request and then I send you an invoice for payment with either my bank details or a PayPal link. Shipping outside of the UK is additional and will be settled with a separate invoice.

Here is the link to see the PRINTS. There are 6 different images (but there are 3 copies available of Vera - she's in the middle of the image above).

Here is the link to see the WORKS ON PAPER. 

Remaining original works on paper £125 each

In other news, there is no other news. I am glad it is the weekend.
Now, what will I feature next month... 

Thank you for being here. 

Created in its wake

We've been here before

mixed media on paper

29.7 x 42 cm (11.69 x 16.54 in)

£125

The sun has been out but it has been bitterly cold. The blue sky and the brightness have been a welcome change. It's even staying light well after 4pm. Spring is around the corner (a long way around the corner, but around the corner just the same).

Memory Serves

mixed media on paper

29.7 x 42 cm (11.69 x 16.54 in)

£125

I took two walks to post three of my works on paper to their new homes in the States and to Glasgow. 

Monday: Post office walk number 1

I enjoyed the sun and even saw my first snowdrops! I gasped out loud when they caught my eye like a long-lost friend, a sort of "what are you doing here!" moment. That pretty much sums me up - I am constantly amazed by the world and nature's beauty. It truly brings me such comfort and joy. Listening to music and walking in nature feed into everything else I do.

Wednesday: Post office walk number 2

It was crisp and cold out, but no snow. I visited an old graveyard on the way home. One of my favourite things to do. I love the old stones covered in lichen. Reading the names, running my hand over the symbols - angels, skulls, and masonic imagery. Always astonished by the dates from so long ago. I walk over the frozen grass looking at the skeleton trees of winter, breathing it all in.

Sequence of webs #3

mixed media on paper

29.7 x 42 cm (11.69 x 16.54 in)

£125

I would like to walk to the post office again soon. Five works on paper remain. I am enjoying featuring specific works during the month. This will continue, it helps me focus and not get too overwhelmed. I have created a lot of work over my lifetime and during these past 9 plus years in Scotland. Not only have I created it, I have managed it - stored it, moved it, packed it, documented it, and kept up with it. Every time I create something, it feels like a billion-step process is created in its wake. I am becoming more discerning that what I create must warrant all the steps and all the expense and energy.

I am also thinking about what I want and need to say, as well as, how to say it in my future work. This all takes time, so it's a good thing it's still winter. While I ponder it all, I will keep featuring specific bodies of work from my studio. Let me know if you have any questions about these works on paper.

Rebuilding. Sketches for a new tomorrow #3

mixed media on paper

29.7 x 42 cm (11.69 x 16.54 in)

£125

Sequence of webs #1

mixed media on paper

29.7 x 42 cm (11.69 x 16.54 in)

£125

In other news, a bit of culture I've enjoyed: 

Films: 

Saltburn 

The Holdovers

Television: 

True Love (6-part series on Channel 4)

Music: 

Pictish Trail 

Books: 

Daily Rituals: Women at Work by Mason Currey 

(just picked this up yesterday - excited to read it)

Thanks for popping by the Studio Blog. I hope you are well, happy, and inspired and if not, tomorrow is another day. Thank you for being here. Keep fighting.

My line dances through it all

Solidly in the centre

mixed media on paper

29.7 x 42 cm (11.69 x 16.54 in)

Sold

This month we are continuing to take a deep dive into my love of working on paper (see last week's post if you missed it)

Working on paper has a rich history and has been part of my art practice since the beginning. Its versatility as well as its ability to be easily preserved and displayed, as well as transported, make paper one of the first materials I reach for. The tooth and texture pull me in. The sound of the brush or pencil across it is one of my favourite things. Each type of paper has its own song and inspires the work.

A sequence of webs #3
mixed media on paper
29.7 x 42 cm (11.69 x 16.54 in)
£125

This is no child’s dance
No crayon across a blank page
It was born from there
Kept alive by sheer will
and stubbornness
It was encouraged by my mother
and father
It was grown by teachers, mentors, and even thieves

You don’t have to understand it
to feel it
You don’t need to have lived it
to know it
A scroll - a poem, a dedication, a prayer, a song…
My line dances through it all

A sequence of webs #1
mixed media on paper
29.7 x 42 cm (11.69 x 16.54 in)
£125

This piece above is all about the calming direct energy of the white stroke through the earthy noise and lines in the background. Like a ribbon or rope guiding us in or pulling us out on top. Perhaps it is a wave we are riding through life. If you look at the painting below, "A sequence of webs number 2". You can compare and contrast the two pieces and see how they are different chapters of the same tale.

A sequence of webs #2
mixed media on paper
29.7 x 42 cm (11.69 x 16.54 in)
Sold

The paintings often know the story long before I do.

Thanks for joining me this week here on the studio blog. Take care out there. 

Paper: Shape Shifting Across Time

Memory Serves,
mixed media on paper
29.7 x 42 cm (11.69 x 16.54 in)
£125 

Headphones on. One song on repeat. Here I am baby. In the new year. 

Dancing in. Walking in. Meditating in. Here I am. 

Singing to all the old songs loudly. 

Doing it all a bit differently. You'll see. I'll see. 

I'll feel it. I hope you will too.

Thanks to everyone who read the 2023 in-review blog last week. Thanks for your lovely feedback on the socials and via messages. You are very kind and encouraging and I am lucky to be in a community with you. Happy New Year. 

This month, I am focussing on my work on paper. Even more specifically, I am going to focus on 8 works on paper. 

I am clearing the decks but for these pieces. You can see them all on my artwork archive site, as they are all ready to walk out the door and into their new lives with you this month. Like little fledglings or paper planes from my heart to yours. Flying around the corner or around the world. Colour, power, line, shape-shifting across time.

To be better understood and given their due. You can go look at them all together right now or you can stay tuned and on Instagram and Facebook, they will be revealed daily. 

Thank you to those of you who see me and truly understand. 

A sequence of webs #2
mixed media on paper
29.7 x 42 cm (11.69 x 16.54 in)
Sold