Nest

Jane James

My interest in nests as subject matter began with a casual conversation about how to go about drawing them. That became a fascination, and led to a large collection of nests sent to me from all over the country. They are such beautiful, intimate objects, and it was only when I began to research them that I realised the extent of the diversity of forms and materials they have.

The canvases themselves are allegories for the process of nest building. The careful selection of the site, and painstaking preparation of the area to be used. This is the origin of my exposed linen edges and layers of ground visible on the canvas. The paintings of nests are to scale, as some of them (such as the Osprey and White Bellied Sea Eagle) are incredible when viewed at their real size. Equally, they can measure as little as five centimetres across. I have been as faithful as possible to the construction and materials of the actual nests, which vary from grasses and mosses to branches and sticks or spiderweb.