Where ART Lives Magazine Volume 3 Number 4 | Page 84
Elizabeth Chapman
August 2017
What is your first memory of creating art?
There are two that come to mind, both at around age four. The first one is of standing by my
mother’s easel painting on a small canvas with oil paints. She still has the painting! It’s your
typical little house, with a tree next to it on grass. The colors are interesting as the whole sky
area was painted orange rather than blue. The memory that stands out the most is probably
because I got in trouble for it. My parents had friends over one night and they brought their kids
with them. I took the kids along with some crayons and showed them how to draw. The only
problem was that I was drawing on my mother’s oil paintings with the crayons. I wasn’t trying to
be mean, nor did I mean any harm I just really thought that it was ok. Well, as you can imagine....
it wasn’t!
Do you have a favorite piece that you have created? What makes it special to you?
Yes. I have a painting that was a collaboration between myself and my grand-daughter
Penelope. We spend a lot of time together and at times it’s in my home studio where she also has
her own little studio. We were spending time there one day when I decided I could get an
underpainting done together while we were messing around. I pulled out a large square canvas
set it on the easel and put 70’s Carpenter’s music on. We both grabbed a large brush and I gave
her the spray bottle. We had the best time dancing, dipping the brushes with color, swinging
them on the canvas and spraying with water. She even titled the painting Rainbow Water. Later
that week I finished that painting. The next time I picked her up after school she told me the
art teacher had taken her brush away. I asked, “oh no, what happened?” She said, “well I was
swinging it around like you and I were doing to the music.”
What do you listen to when you paint?
Music is inspirational to me. I listen to all kinds. Jazz, Classical, I seem to enjoy instrumentals the
most. I go through periods where I will listen to the same artist for weeks at time. I will definitely
stick with the same CD through the entirety of a painting, as it sets the mood. My husband plays
guitar and enjoys picking out music for me to listen to. There are times when I will paint without
music. Not many, but I seem to go through those times as well.
Do you have a favorite subject matter?
I do abstract, floral, and figurative abstract paintings. I feel the most free when I am working
without any expectations, purely abstractly.
melizabethchapman.artspan.com
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