A favourite statue, at Michelham Priory in East Sussex, was brought to my attention by a very dear  friend of mine as we walked around the gardens of the historical house.  I thought it would make an interesting subject to paint which I’ve accomplished using watercolours.  Winsor and Newton on Bockingford.

The statue was erected in memory of Molly K Pears, a friend and guide at Michelham.                      The inscription reads ‘We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind’.

Being inquisitive, I wondered where the words originated from and discovered them to be lines from a poem by William Wordsworth entitled Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.  The poem is quite beautiful and I took from it another line for the title of this painting, ‘Nature’s Priest’..