Blood Red

Poinsettias have the strongest color, it pierces vision and makes an impact. I have gotten to know my flowers. They are intense and not really friendly. Their beauty is superficial. It's their visual aggression I like.

Dark Center

 A huge black hole sits in the middle of our galaxy. A certain darkness may lie at the center of all things. I wonder if the Buddhists would agree.

Olive's Flower

Olive's spirit is in the bottom right hand corner looking into the darkness and peace that is her death.

Dragonfly Poinsettia

Today, I saw the rare and beautiful Dragonfly Poinsettia take off with its red wings to fly around the yard. After a few minutes it came to light back on its stem as if it had never left. Being lucky to see it, I was reminded that we too readily believe that the world conforms to human expectations.  In spite of us, Gaia has her own energy and life. The mystery is in that negative space of our understanding.

Background

The background is difficult with the flowers. I don't want it to look filled in and left over. Too dark and its overpowering, too light and all one sees is empty space next to a strong flower shape. Finding the right color is hard too. Good design dictates that negative and positive spaces interact and complement each other.
Here, the dark background feels sinister and a bit ominous.

Bloom

Because I painted her, the flower and I have a relationship. The image is the picture of that interaction. The painting is not me and is certainly not the Poinsettia, it is something else, but what exactly?

Twirl

They like me better than Walmart.

Rejected

I bought the rejected half-priced Poinsettias at Walmart because I thought they looked slightly crippled but more interesting. These seem to be trying to move in rhythm to some imaginary beat.

Where Have All The Poinsettias Gone?

The Poinsettias are all in Walmart. I saw them yesterday.

Christmas is an up and down time. It's over in the blink of an eye, and yet never ending. My flowers will tell the tale of this Holiday Season and how I really feel about it.

Poinsettias

Its the Christmas season whether we like it or not and the start of a new month and a little different direction for me. I am going to paint Poinsettias until I can't stand to paint them anymore. I want to work from life while I start my bigger drawings which I'll post in addition to my small daily sketches.
This looks a lot like open heart surgery.