While still a student in the late 1960s, Chaplin's first work as a professional artist was to create
woodcut pictures for the
dust jackets of books. He sold his first picture for seven
guineas. His earliest fine art pieces were almost all in the medium of
etching. The influence of Chaplin's background in graphic design is very clear in these first pictures, which are highly stylised, bordering on abstract. His love of architecture, particularly industrial, was also becoming apparent; an early etching depicts the workings of a disused power station, a motif which would recur later in his career. After completing his studies, Chaplin married in 1967 and moved with his wife Gay, also an artist, to
Maidstone in
Kent the following year. They had one son, Nick (born 1977) and one daughter, Briony (born 1980). In the late 60s, while still a student, Chaplin was elected as an associate of the
Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, at the time the youngest artist ever to receive this honour. He was later elected to full fellowship in 1971, subsequently serving as Honorary Secretary and Vice President under the presidency of
Harry Eccleston, finally becoming a senior fellow of the society. In 1997, having been an associate since 1993, Chaplin was elected a Full Member of the
Royal Watercolour Society. He was also a Fellow of the
Royal Society of Arts. Throughout his career, Chaplin continued to teach and lecture in Art, holding the post of Senior Art Lecturer at Kingston Polytechnic (now
Kingston University) through the 1970s and 80s, and later running many residential Art courses in the UK and internationally. Chaplin appeared as the resident art expert on the
Channel 4 programme
Watercolour Challenge with
Hannah Gordon, which began in 1998 and ran for three series. Chaplin also filmed an hour-long follow-up video, made to accompany the series. In 2002, Chaplin was commissioned to produce a series of handling sheets of watercolour techniques for the
Tate Gallery to accompany the
Thomas Girtin Exhibition (Summer 2002). 2003 saw Chaplin filming for
BBC Two's
Open University Art History Unit, following in the footsteps of
J. M. W. Turner and re-creating some of his paintings of the
Lake District. In 2004, Chaplin demonstrated painting techniques during the
El Greco Exhibition at the
National Gallery (2004). In 2005, he worked with the Tate Gallery again, recording audio notes on the Turner exhibits for the gallery's Turner,
Whistler &
Monet exhibition. In 2007, Chaplin was given the opportunity to use pigments that had been ground by J. M. W. Turner into watercolour. Chaplin subsequently used the paint to film Turner's watercolour techniques for a permanent exhibition at
Tate Britain in London. In 2010, he presented a DVD,
The Challenge of Watercolour. In 2011, Chaplin worked with the family of J. M. W. Turner to establish the Turner Award for Watercolour as part of the
Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, and was himself the recipient of the award in 2011. In 2013, a major retrospective of Chaplin’s work and career was presented by
Maidstone Museum. Following the death of his wife, Gay, in 2014, Chaplin relocated to
Savannah, Georgia, USA, and subsequently married his second wife, June. In 2016, Chaplin was honoured to paint in the Mall, London, at H.M. Queen Elizabeth II’s Patron's Lunch, the culminating event of her 90th birthday celebrations. Chaplin's work, both in painting and printmaking, is included in many public and private collections worldwide, including those of
HM Queen Elizabeth II,
HM Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, ex-
King Constantine of the Hellenes,
Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, the
Ashmolean Museum in
Oxford, and the
Fitzwilliam Museum in
Cambridge. One of his large murals also decorates the boardroom of the
Daily Express offices in London. He published three books, ''Mike Chaplin's Expressive Watercolours
,, The Complete Book of Drawing and Painting
and How to Paint Like Turner. '' Chaplin died in Savannah on 1 April 2026, at the age of 82, following a seven-month battle with
mesothelioma. ==References==