Donna Chapman

I am a New Zealander and have lived in Bognor Regis for twenty years. I am self taught. I have always drawn and painted, it is that thing you do where you loose all track of time and actually need to set an alarm to stop. On a Saturday I attend Chichester Life drawing group this practice sets me up for the week and gives me ideas for painting. All of my painting begins with a play session, this could be acrylic paint pouring or simply using up an old paint pallet, basically I have fun and put together ideas. I will then use this as a background for a painting. I do also like to get outside and draw and paint my surroundings. Living near to the sea is a constant source of inspiration.

In January I decided I needed a challenge so started painting 30 dogs in 30 days. This became the body of work for the open studios. In painting this series I tried to portray their unique personalities, colours, textures and sometimes quirkiness.

On Thursdays I teach a class for beginner’s and those returning to painting. The course content is mostly driven by those who attend. In the last few weeks we have been working on texture using moulding paint and house hold wall filler and PVA.