Denise Chaplin

Denise has balanced a successful academic career with a love of art for most of her adult life. She believes that time needs to be found to feed the soul, and has always thrown her energies into creative activities to offset the stress of senior management in a challenging world. She has found success in the fields of jewellery making, sculpture and egg decorating.

Since retiring from educational leadership she has explored painting, settling on oils as her medium of choice, and her work varies from soft, impressionist landscapes to bolder works done entirely with a palette knife, which are three dimensional in appearance.

She has begun to exhibit her work which is being received favorably, encouraging her to explore this exciting field further. Her dragon sculptures on ostrich eggs, and her Australiana painted eggs are in homes in America, Europe and Japan, and she has produced two books on egg decorating.

She hopes her present excitement with oil painting brings her the same joy and satisfaction. As a member of the McLelland Guild of Artists she is learning new things all the time, both from the other members and from the talented demonstrators that the Guild hosts each month.

She sees oil painting as a relaxing and contemplative art, and one which takes off with a life of its own. The excitement of a painting taking shape is certainly food for that hungry soul.