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Intuitive artist Nanci Miranda prepares for launch of exhibit at Millcroft Inn

March 22, 2024   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

When you read about Nanci Miranda’s astonishing entry into life as an artist on her website, it may well be a challenge for you to believe her amazing story. Yet, the proof of what she tells you is even more surprising.

There will be an exhibition of Ms. Miranda’s remarkable paintings in the dining room of the Millcroft Inn from April 1 to June 1. 

During a recent interview with the Citizen, we learned when Ms. Miranda was 50, she became chronically ill, as a result of being a caregiver to family members who needed her. Her exhaustion was so intense, she was barely able to do more than rest and sleep. She took a year off work and during that summer she just rested.

By a certain point in this effort to recover, she related that she “called out to life” She had enough of this lack of energy that she wanted her life back.

At the time, she was clear, “I had never drawn nor painted in my life, never studied art but, at the end of the summer, I got this gift.”

Her cry was answered by a sudden change to her vision: colours were more vibrant and “everything in front of me had enhanced dimension.” 

It all began with a dear little sketch of her own back porch, a pencil sketch with perspective and shading, looking like the work of a talented artist, with years of sketching such vignettes.

The sketch came as a mystery and a surprise to her, as did the beautiful, painted portrait she did of her daughter as a baby, but this was barely the beginning. The paintings she started to create were one revelation after another. Without a moment of art training or any connection to the art world, Nanci Miranda was producing paintings with vibrant colours and meaning. Even more, they ranged in an impressive number of styles and content.

“I took me at least five years to understand that I was painting from the spirit guides and that’s why I can paint anything because they are painting through me. It’s as if I’m in an altered state when I paint,” was Miranda’s explanation.

In her early days of this experience, she kept hiding her website, worried “people would find it too weird.” Eventually, she grew comfortable with the idea of being able to create this artwork through her spirit guides; she had the evidence of their guidance as someone who “never studied art produces that portrait. It’s impossible,” she rightly observes, “A miracle.”

There are six guides communicating with Nanci Miranda. Each is a specific personality, with individual approaches to the art they lead her to produce. They started by showing her what colour, what medium: oil, watercolour, acrylic; where to put the colour on which sort of surface; could be canvas, board canvas or wood.

They are Josef, Gregory, Ella, The Shaman, Liz and Jack.

It is Liz with whom Ms. Miranda does commissions. What intrigues her so much about commissions is the connection that precedes the work. “What matters most is the interview,” she said. “What they’re longing for and putting that in the piece; putting some of the flow in the piece.

“I love that I have the honour of expressing the emotion in the piece.” 

It is about balance, for this has been quite a journey. A couple of years ago, she became a Reiki Master and she meditates every day, working at not being overwhelmed.

Learning and doing Reiki, she studied with a teacher and studied all three stages. She now has a full practice. Healing while working with life energy that is stored in the body, the spirits guide her in this too.

Ruminating, she commented, “There was a time when the Shaman wanted me to paint a crystal ball. Everything I do is stunning. Whatever their process is, they show me how to do that.”

Although Ms. Miranda does a few large commissions a year, she admits the business of art is difficult, trying to understand how to move forward.

“I wasn’t expecting to be an artist,” she said simply. “When you’ve planned that, it can be the focus but it was dumped on me.”

The lessons were over 10 years. People would say, “All your paintings are different.” She commented, “And I am in awe; not to the point where it is not a surprise.” 

Usually, Nanci Miranda’s paintings are in the Headwaters Gallery in the Alton Mill Arts Centre. 

Her ambition is to be able to go on with her art and to have her own studio. Indeed she and her husband, a ceramic artist, did organize a studio in Toronto where they currently live and it was all a go until Covid hit and ended the dream. They would love to return to that plan.

“The most pleasure I get is doing commissions,” she conceded. 

She added her own advice to a younger generation, “Get to know yourself. Trust that life has something specular for yourself. Realize that anything is possible.”

“This has been an incredible journey,” she said. “I respect my art and the Reiki. At the beginning it was a load but now I can respect and honour them. Everything I have has been given.”

Learn more at her website: www.nancimirandaartist.com

Ms. Miranda’s stunning paintings will be on exhibition in the Millcroft Inn from April 1 to June 1.

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