Meet the maker Jenny Chapman

I'm a professional artist and writer, and have been living and working on the Ardnamurchan peninsula - a rugged but beautiful coastal area in the extreme west of the Scottish Highlands – since moving here from the Scottish Borders in 1999.

After a degree in Art History and Philosophy, and additional postgrad research in Art History, I worked for a few years in an admin job at a university before returning to college as a "mature" student in my mid-thirties. I then spent over 5 years. studying at art schools, specialising in illustration, animation and drawing at Edinburgh College of Art (B.A. Hons. and M.Des.) following a general Foundation Diploma in Art and Design at Camberwell College of Arts, London.

I paint and draw the landscape and wildlife around me, and mainly work with water-based media in various forms, especially traditional watercolour paints and modern watercolour pencils.

When I applied to study Illustration at Edinburgh College of Art, many years ago, the tutor who interviewed me asked why I wasn't applying to study Painting and Drawing instead. I told him that I wanted to create work mainly for reproduction, so that lots of people could see and enjoy what I made at low cost instead of selling it to just one. And that is exactly what I do.

I create original artwork which I then sell as giclée prints, canvas prints, posters, greetings cards, postcards, etc., and also make available on a small range of gifts - such as tote bags - printed with my original images. I make all the prints myself (except huge posters) in my own studio, but the greetings cards and gifts are produced to my designs by professional printing services.

Some of my paintings are created as illustrations for my series of children’s chapter books, the Tales from the Adventures of Algy.

I have taught art and animation at widely varying levels of age and ability, including to children of all ages, college students, and mature adult enthusiasts, and I’m author/co-author of several college textbooks and technical books on multimedia, web animation, etc.