Visit our gallery in The Snug.

We promote new artists and those living and working in Wales...and we proudly support community arts.

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Spring is in the air - and Janet Chaplin has returned to Ffwrwm - her paintings bursting with life.

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Janet Chaplin

March - May

Years ago, sitting on the beach watching my children play, I started to sketch and build a collection of paintings of the sea.  Texture and colour began to preoccupy me and some of my seascapes became quite abstract. 

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I began to enjoy the build-up of layers and the depth of colour I could get by using different media such as oil inks and acrylics - even - sometimes - salt.    

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Now, I sketch in detail first - outside - then use these sketches back in the studio painting several images at the same time.  

Recently, I have been inspired by painting the gardens at Picton Castle in West Wales.  In this exhibition these large scale oil paintings have allowed me to experiment with greens and purples.  The two largest paintings show the path in and out of the gardens past one of the huge patches of Gunneras, large plants that die away each year to grow back on a monumental scale. Flowers of a vivid orange and red nestle underneath their leaves. 

As a contrast to these monsters the gardens at Picton have a vast array of other plants - walks of myrtle and spilling bowls of hydrangeas - these delicate flowers have been an inspiration too.  

I have been making art and teaching for over 30 years but in the last few years I have started to exhibit and sell my work across Wales and beyond. 

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Yet still, painting the hills around Abergavenny excites me every day.

I look at the Blorenge and Sugarloaf on my way to and from work. The colours are constantly changing and I try to reflect their continual flux.