Rook's Nest

Lillias August RI | Watercolour | 21.25 x 28.75 inches

“During lockdown a nest fell down into my garden from a eucalyptus tree. The rooks are unaware that a bendy eucalyptus is not the best place to build and the usual result is a load of scattered twigs to tidy up. This time, however, a complete nest landed upside down as if to say ‘here I am, paint me’.  There was a surprise when we turned it over – there in the middle of all the twigs was a smaller nest made of moss and leaves.  So the twigs that we see from below are not the nest itself but an outer platform.  I was drawn to the juxtaposition of the two different materials – the haphazard, coarse outer nest made from large twigs and the fine, delicate inner nest made from small grasses and moss.”