Exploring ‘The Root of Light’: A Journey Through Art by Laura Bernardeschi Nelson

https://www.artpal.com/laurabernnelson/

Title: The Root of Light
Medium: Oil Pastels on Paper, with Palette Knife Work
Size: ~20 x 30 cm
Signed, varnished, and framed

At the heart of The Root of Light lies a question: what happens when the body becomes a bridge? When posture is no longer form, but prayer?

Technically, this work is a dance between spontaneity and structure. Using oil pastels in both raw and blended forms, Laura Bernardeschi Nelson sculpts the figure with deliberate restraint. The palette knife carves space and volume into the layers, allowing for both textural chaos and radiant control. Every stroke carries weight—evidence of movement, presence, and resistance.

The glowing yellow light is built in concentric waves from a deep, earthy core, brightening gradually as it radiates outward. These golden tones—reminiscent of early morning sun or ancient firelight—create a visual breath, one that pulses gently around the figure. The surrounding trees and symbols dissolve into abstraction, becoming the mind’s flickering impressions: fragments of memory, intuition, or reverence.

Philosophically, The Root of Light is about becoming a vessel—how through stillness we channel both the sacred and the ordinary. The tree pose (Vrikshasana) is not accidental; it symbolizes grounding and elevation. The upward-reaching arms are a call to connection, while the balanced foot reminds us of rootedness. The forest is more than setting—it is witness, mirror, and teacher.

The use of bright flecks of blue, red, and yellow within the darker forest tones recalls the alchemical elements of transformation: water, fire, and spirit. Symbols swirl around the edges—marks that feel like ancient scripts or the language of dreams. Nothing here is fixed. Everything is moving inward, or reaching outward.

There’s a quiet power in this figure’s facelessness. It’s an invitation to see yourself in the pose, in the light, in the becoming. You are both the observer and the observed.

Ultimately, The Root of Light is not just a visual piece. It is a threshold. A space to reconnect with the internal sacred. A gesture of stillness in the swirl of becoming.