Spotlight on Art: The Nest

“See Deeper Into Paintings…”

The Nest by Lisa Miller | Oil on Canvas | 50 x 40 inches

The Story Behind The Art “The Nest”

This painting is rooted in nature and an experience I had as a child in the forest. When I was in 5th grade, my whole class went to camp for a week. It was an entirely new experience to embark on this 11-year-old archetypical hero’s journey of sorts with all the other kids I went to school with. We did all the usual things: fishing in streams and kumbaya by the campfire, sleeping in cabins and eating meals en mass in the mess hall. But for me I found the magic - and met myself - in solitude and in nature.

While on a nature walk in the woods, our teacher challenged us to seek out and settle into a quiet spot of our choosing, for an hour and a half. A chance to create our own place in this new world that we were exploring, so far away from the world that we had known until then. We had each been given a mimeographed science workbook that was filled with so much information and educational activities. For me it was like a treasure map, telling of all the birds and insects and forest animal and plant life that we were now immersed in and living along side. I couldn’t wait to find my spot and let my imagination go free. A structured activity immediately became an opening for my curiosity and creativity.

As I broke from the pack and began walking contemplatively on my own, I found the perfect spot - a small clearing in the forest set against the broad brown trunk of a fallen pine tree, that had grown covered in soft green moss. The ground was a carpet of pine boughs that I matted down as I sat Indian-style and nestled in. As I looked up I could see all the way through the canopy of the trees to the sky, reminding me of the layers of this new forest ecosystem I was now part of. The sunlight filtered back down in dappled dots that danced across my upturned face and over my shoulders, back into the forest depths. I was well-prepared for this by my Mother, who provisioned me with art supplies and packed everything in ziplock bags, in case of rain. So I inflated one plastic bag into a makeshift pillow, and leaned back, admiring my handiwork and settling into my newfound nest. I didn’t think about the other kids or anything else. I felt totally safe and secure in this domain of mine that I had created with my own hands and ingenuity. It was a mystical experience, where time stops and the reality of awareness fully steps in to embrace the present moment. I could have stayed there forever.

Go Deeper Into The Art “The Nest” 

I wanted to make a painting about my experience in the forest that I described above, having recognized it as being being a Signal Moment* in my life. I desired to express in my art that awareness of being connected to all that is in the natural world, and feeling safe and protected, having carved out my place in it - to be in the world and of the world at the same time a distinct “I”. And I knew I could go deeper into exploring the feelings through creating a painting, a tangible, visual expression of that experience - both to know myself better and to share the experience through my art with others - and ultimately with the person who will own my painting, who will experience the art itself through living with it in their home - thus making the experience itself eternal and infinite. 

Early in the painting process, after the underpainting, when I was laying in gestural brushstrokes, the overarching Madonna and Child imagery appeared - to my surprise and awe - as I had intended to make the painting entirely abstract. The painting is always a dance between the artist and the art itself, so I developed it further while keeping the loose freshness of how it emerged.

I'm playing here with a lot of ‘as above so below’ ideas and you can see this especially in the blue leaves agains the green. The green shows us the fresh emerging young leaves, and the blue reflects the clouds that pass across the blue sky, having come down to earth in a more tangible experience of the divine.

Throughout the painting I’m exploring the feeling of one-ness and connection to nature, as paralleled by the natural movement of an 11-year-old growing up in the world, at the beginning of the process of individuation - and how this unfolds in harmony with the cycles of life and nature.

I wanted to ground the painting with colors that you can really see and feel to convey a very earthy loamy forest floor that really anchors the visual plane and painting experience. The colors underscore that deeper sense of feeling secure and safe and protected - a feeling that touches our individual experiences - but also goes beyond that which exists in personal memory to something shared and universal. 

The stars in the sky above appeared in the painting glazing process and I liked that effect so I added more. I wanted to bring in this movement between heaven and earth, the transcendent and imminent. The stars then informed the area on the left, where the dappled sunlight shines down from the forest canopy. This evolved into five golden seeds in the earth, for me, showing life in potentia and the eternal support of nature that brings everything in the universe to full development.

So I hope you’ve enjoyed this journey - going deeper into my painting, “The Nest”. Details about the painting and more information about my work can be found on my website, linked below. And I’d love to know what YOU see in this artwork, the ways in which it touches your imagination and if it brings up any personal experience from your life. Just hit reply and send me an email!

Let your light shine,

Lisa