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12 iNarrabri Magazine March 5th - March 18th
The last issue of iNarrabri Magazine (#37)
contained the first half of a two part interview
with 90 year old, Peter Chapman. To read this
article go to
We continue Peter’s amazing story at the
point where he left Sydney ...
Following a marriage breakup in 1970, Peter
left Sydney and came out to Gwabegar where
he had purchased a farm with his brother-in-
law, who was the local policeman. Up until this
point, Peter had lived all his life in the city as a
prodigious artist producing comic books and
artwork for Frank Johnson Publications and
Frew Publications, as well as a long stint with
John Sands as an illustrator and designer. The
wide open country space that set the scenes
for his comic books such as The Phantom
Ranger must have been completely foreign
compared to the cramped offices where they
were created!
“I was doing farmwork but was still accept-
ing art commissions and driving to and from
Sydney now and then to deliver my works. My
brother-in-law found that there were a group
of ladies in Wee Waa that were doing art
classes, but they were doing stick figures and
were unhappy with the classes. He suggested
to them that I could help.”
Peter went in one day and helped the group
paint portaits and John Ducker, the local prin-
cipal at the Tafe, asked Peter to teach. He then
asked Peter to teach at Narrabri, and then Bel-
lata, and so it went on until Peter was teaching
at TAFE colleges all around the region.
“I ended up with eleven art classes in a week,
each would go for about 3 hours and I had to
travel around a fair bit. I bought a property
in between Narrabri and Tarrawan, because it
was central to where I was travelling and had
a lovely view of the mountains.”
Peter was teaching more hours than a full
time teacher and aside from regular classes in
Narrabri, Bellata, Wee Waa, Moree and other
local towns and hamlets, Peter would also
travel large distances to teach.
“I went to St George a couple of times and
even down as far as Temora. People had nev-
er had an art class and groups would organ-
ise funding and I would go down and teach
them over a couple of days. I gained great
satisfaction out of people producing works
after starting from scratch. I’d say there’s your
board... they’d say... what do I do now? Meg
knows all about it...”
Meg Madden is Peter’s partner of thirty
years and the couple got to know each other
through Peter’s art classes where Meg started
as a beginner. Meg tells the story of how they
came to be together...
“Following my first marriage breakup in 1982,
I was working in the Town Hall garage (NRMA)
and one day the boss’ wife mentioned Peter
and his art classes. I had always wanted to
learn how to draw and paint and was telling
her so, when you wouldn’t believe it, not ten
minutes later, Peter walked into the office. I
told Peter that my two daughters and I would
like to go and he said to come after Christmas
when Tech starts. I kept going with the classes
and then eventually we ended up getting to-
gether. We’ve been together for thirty years
and had a very interesting life! But as Peter
said, you get great satisfaction from produc-
ing... It’s hard to believe that after starting as
a beginner I’ve gone on to sell well over two
hundred paintings!”
Up until 1989, Peter was teaching at various
TAFE colleges but then the curriculum for
teaching art changed in that students now
had to gain a certificate. But according to Pe-
ter, a lot of the students were attending purely
for the pleasure of producing art and didn’t
want to have to study the history of art and
art theory...
“They didn’t want to go to TAFE anymore and
do this, I liked to have them painting on the
first day so I started my own private art class-
es and did this for about twenty years with my
last class in Moree finishing up in 2009.”
In addition to Peter’s TAFE teaching and trav-
elling art school, he was also illustrating and
painting works on commission. He briefly
returned to the pulp fiction industry in 1988
when Horwitz Publications commissioned
him to provide cover designs for some of the
last novels to be written by J.E. Macdonnell
and Marshall Grover (aka Len Meares).
After nearly forty years of teaching art in our
region, Peter believes that the key to produc-
ing art is... producing art.
“Go out and just paint. Don’t draw from stick
figures, that’s a lot of... the government art
schools started stick figures and all of that
crap, which it is.
“If you want to, get a board and copy another
painting... then do it again... and again. It’s the
quickest way of learning. You will find the sec-
ond and third time around how much better it
Peter chapman - the story continues...
Feature Interview
Peter Chapman, illustration for Famous DetectiveStories, ‘No Alibi Possible’, undated.