Mary Chaplin à l’atelier
Wailly 80160 France

Artist Biography

 French artist Mary Chaplin lives and works in Wailly, a picturesque hamlet
 surrounded by ponds, rivers and woods, in the North of France.
 For more than twenty years she has worked as a self-taught professional artist,
 always inspired by nature and by the varying effects of light. She started her career
 by painting figurative scenes she saw around her in the French countryside. Her
 first artworks were representations of landscapes, gardens, forests, rivers or lakes,
 which allowed her to explore different techniques, including pastel, oil, acrylic and
 watercolor.
 However, both her life and career reached a turning point in 2005 when she
 witnessed the ‘holy light’ in a chapel she was visiting; she was deeply touched and
 inspired by the beauty of the reflections coming from the stained-glass windows,
 and thus she started painting them, calling them her ‘reflections’, or, in French,
 ‘méditations’.
 After that experience in the chapel, her will to convey the ephemeral nature of the
 light she captures, and its soothing warmth, became stronger. This new artistic birth
 enabled her to follow new paths in which she explores light’s numerous and everchanging facets.

 This deeply influenced her artistic style and work as it gave them a
 new dimension, shifting from a figurative representation of light in landscapes and
 still life to an abstract and more personal and metaphorical interpretation and
 appropriation of light’s fugacity.
 Since her beginnings, Mary Chaplin’s work has been published in several articles
 in the press and in specialized art magazines. It also has been broadcasted on
 television and is regularly exhibited in festivals dedicated to sacred art as well as in
 art galleries throughout different countries, including France, Belgium and
 England.

 Artist Statement

 Through my art, I transfer the deep emotions that I feel are conveyed by light. The
 observation of light, when it is transformed after passing through stained-glass
 windows or when it is reflected on the surface of water, is the starting point of my
 artwork. These observations take me on a path of meditation in which each canvas
 becomes a spiritual journey in and towards light, as a metaphor for the everchanging and fluctuating nature of life.

 I also wish my artwork to serve as an invitation for others to join me in this meditation on the ephemeral nature of light,
 on its simplicity, beauty and frailty, as a metaphor for life in general. On this
 abstract path, even darkness becomes a pretext for more light. And light, darkness,
 as well as the colors they create, are the way I have found to truly express my inner
 self. Through abstract representations of light, I travel; my only compass is my
 heart and, as an artist, I feel I am free to let my inspiration take me where it wishes
 to. This is why I use various techniques and materials, from pastel to oil, from
 paper to canvases or Plexiglas, so that I can convey my emotions and meditations
 in the most suitable way possible

I travel along wandering paths ranging from figurative to non-figurative depending on my mood, I’m not trying to follow a trend, I express my emotions, I listen to my heart and for me that freedom is the primary meaning for a professional artist.

Mary Chaplin gives introductory courses in various techniques, watercolor, pastel, acrylic,  drawing techniques, oil painting…
Training courses for confirmed, amateur artists and initiation for beginners
These courses are open to all, beginners or more experienced artists. Lessons available weekdays during the day or evening, in small groups, maximum 4 people. Mary Chaplin guides her students through observation of  the environment, at the same time by opening  doors to various techniques. Open your eyes, observe nature, the world around us to  findones own expression … The courses are moments of painting together in  good ambiance!

Information about possible future course dates at 0624724916. Please send me your details if you are interested through the contact page of my site.
Important: Only registration with payment of a deposit is taken into account. In case of cancellation the deposit is not returnable. Thank you for your understanding

Mary  Chaplin

Professionnal artist, registered with « Maison des Artistes »

Studio visits and prices  on request.

Even though paintings can be seen on internet, there is no substitute for seeing them in my gallery.

All works and texts are protected © Adagp Paris, reproduction is forbidden.

Few exhibitions :

2016/ 2017. Exhibition in the Art Gallery HUIS HUIS , Gent, Belgium

LINK HERE

Burgstraat 12, Gent. Galerij Huis Huis de jan Van Damme

My work is now represented on the Artsyshark website, please, have a visit! link

 « Giverny summer 2015, The song of the wind »acrylic on canvas 120x100cm

Recent news: Manhattan Art International

I received an award for my work on Nature from Renée Philipps  and her Jury in the exhibition ‘New Beginnings’ see on the folowing link HERE

The garden in front of my studio in Wailly, 80160 near Conty, Vallée de Selle, Picardy

 Exhibition in Meru (60) Picardy in the beautiful new artistic  Domino center. Invited by the council in the context of a hommage to Mary Cassat who lived near Méru.

Art Gallery in Amiens, Exhibition at the Gallery Yvert et Tellier in 2014