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Moon-Swing Awakening
by Laura Bernardeschi Nelson
Oil Pastels and Acrylic on Paper | Palette Knife Details | 40 x 30 cm | Mounted and Sealed in Clear Protective Envelope
She rises from the water just as the moon begins its descent—
not down to earth, but down into dream.
A fairy, half-submerged and wholly awake, lifts herself from the pond’s surface,
her wings dripping silver, her body called upward
by a swing that hangs, impossibly, from the moon itself.
This is the moment before movement—
before she takes her seat,
before the air begins to carry her.
Set in a forest where night hasn’t quite fallen,
where the trees still hold the last warmth of sunset
and wildflowers bloom in whispers of violet, red, and green,
Moon-Swing Awakening captures a threshold:
the crossing from reflection into flight.
Painted in oil pastels with the added depth and gesture of palette knife work,
this piece glows with texture—lush strokes layered over soft washes,
each tree, petal, and ripple bearing the mark of a human hand.
Subtle touches of acrylic heighten the light, especially where the moon spills downward
like a waterfall of quiet power.
The paper holds the story gently—
a 40 x 30 cm surface held within a mount frame,
then carefully placed in a clear protective envelope
so the viewer can feel both the fragility and strength
of a vision preserved.
The painting was born from a dream—
a real dream, dreamt by the artist herself—
in which a moon-swing offered escape, delight,
and the courage to emerge, wet and wonder-struck, from solitude.
Like much of Laura Bernardeschi Nelson’s work,
this piece balances myth and memory,
using nature, magic, and the feminine figure
to tell a story of reclamation and quiet resistance.
It is not loud.
It does not need to be.
It simply asks:
What if joy descended from the moon tonight?
Would you swing?
Laura Bernardeschi Nelson artworld and travels 