This latest body of work is a response to daily walks on the dirt roads of my Vermont neighborhood. As I wander, my eye captures the broad scene and the small details. I’m drawn to the color of stones, their striations and pock-marks indicating miniature landscapes. The topography evokes images, memories and feelings that are best expressed in ecstatic abstraction. Simultaneously, I find security in knowing where the horizon rests. I love the physicality of oil paint. I find it is a medium that is both muscular and vulnerable. As the work develops I move the paint around with abandon pushing it with my brush, palette knife, my gloved fingers. Using the vocabulary of form and color there is a dialogue that begins. A dialogue begins will place a mark and then wait for the work to indicate the next needed move. It is as if the work tosses breadcrumbs to show me the way to a completion. As in relationships, I realize that when I rush the process the conversation stops. But when I am silent and wait….then, the story continues. I find this to be magical. Many times the finale piece does not come out the way I imagined, but rather becomes as it was meant to be. Painting is a way to touch what cannot be literally touched. My goal is not to describe a scene for the viewer, but rather to render the setting’s spirit; to reveal a story. I have been deeply influenced by gifted painters such as Nicholas Wilton, Mark Rothko, Eric Aho, Wolf Kahn.
~ Nancy Chapman
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Nancy Chapman Art 