The Morning Glories have felt the June heat and have dried up. We usually have downpours starting June 1st here in sunny south Florida but they are delayed. The Morning Glories are early Spring vines. They flourish in April and May. By June, they vanish.
This is one of the late May blooms. Morning Glories really are stunning flowers. They open early morning to the east light and crumple up by the late afternoon. What they offer when they are in full bloom is color and hope. There’s something hopeful about waking up each morning to a bright and colorful face.
During my pastel study, I kept on being attracted to the belly center. It really is white. It’s the kind of white that seems radiant. That’s what become the focus of this pastel painting: the cauldron of light.
The word ‘cauldron’ conjures up witchery but I’m only a butterfly gardener. If any magic happens in my garden, it is the ancient magic that comes when G-d breathes blessings on the living. A cauldron is an old word and an old cooking method. In looking at this Morning Glory, I’m impressed with the Light cooked up from its belly. It’s the light that opens the dawn. It’s the light that presses back the night. It’s the light that tells birds its time to feed. It’s the light that causes grief to flee.
The painting is from an original photograph of my late May Morning Glories. Most of them are this color of blues to pinks. I started it using the pan colors and applicators then switched to the Artworks soft pastels and finally to the Sennelier soft pastels. The color value key is low in the larger parts of the painting. I kept on lowering the value to accent and emphasize the white coming out of the center of the plant. It was a challenge to lower the color value without making it entirely drab. I took that challenge because to balance a painting, there must be drab as long as there is clarity and brightness. To me, that’s another life metaphor. I love my cauldron of light that’s within me to color the drab in and around me.