Vera Lynne Champlin is a watercolor painter best known for paintings of flowers, still lifes and gardens. Her grandmother, Helen Hussey Champlin, through garden club work, made flowers central to her life, and influenced Vera’s idea of beauty. Drawing from this legacy, Vera continues the celebration of flowers through her paintings.

She graduated with a B.F.A. in painting and graphics from the University of New Hampshire in 1972. After graduation, she moved to Cape Cod and her art took a different direction when she fell in love with dance. For the next 7 years, she immersed herself in many forms, including Spanish and East Indian with the celebrated artist Madame La Meri. Realizing that a professional career in dance was out of her reach she, with her husband Peter Scannell, created Chatham Cookware, a cookware store and bakery on Main Street in Chatham. There, the focus of her art became baking and pastry making. Over the next 18 years, Vera and Peter grew the business into a much-loved destination spot for many people near and far, because of the superlative food and charm of the store. In 1998, they sold the store and Vera returned to painting.

Vera became an artist member of the Cape Cod Art Association in 2002 and has won multiple awards. Her teachers include Christie Velesig and Arnold Desmarais with whom she has done workshops in France. In 2006, she joined the Creative Arts Center in Chatham following a workshop with renowned watercolor artist Mary White.

In 2004, Vera’s painting, Daffodils was selected to appear in How Did You Paint That? 100 Ways to Paint Your Favorite Subjects, published by International Artist Publishing.

Vera lives in Chatham with her husband Peter and their two teenage children, Nell and Waldo. She loves her gardens and still takes ballet class regularly.

Artist's Statement
I am always looking for that combination of things that moves me in a painting, that mix that speaks to the senses. I try to capture it in the right balance of light and shadow, precision and suggestion; all the while I seek to honor the medium itself: the luminosity, freshness, and priceless bloom.