“What would the world be, once bereft
Of wet and of wildness? Let them be left,
O let them be left, wildness and wet;
Long live the weeds and the wilderness yet.”
Gerard Manley Hopkins, Inversnaid
I’ve always been drawn to wild places -- woods, swamps, fields overrun with weeds and wildflowers – independent of human intervention. The natural world buzzes with energy, diversity, and change. So does the world of paint.
When I’m painting, I look for surprises: the twist of a brushstroke that makes it unlike the strokes around it; drips, runs, and thick patches of paint; the third color created at the nearly imperceptible boundary where two colors meet. And while these things may not be immediately apparent to the viewer, I hope that viewers will recognize in my work the restless energy -- the “weeds and wildness” -- I admire in the world.
Nancy Nichols-Pethick