In the center of my garden is a papaya tree growing. I didn’t plant it. G-d may have; perhaps a squirrel or a passing flying bird dropped seeds. I don’t know. But in the center of my garden is a papaya tree growing. That’s the Rose and Milkweed Garden.
The leaves are normally larger than a giant man’s hand and very consistently green. This one perched for the bluejays for a long time, also green. The branch is long and clean and perfect in girth for bluejays to grip with their feet. They launched from that lowest branch to the rocky bird bath.
Last week, this leaf began to die so it drooped more and more every day. And it turned this medium colored yellow. It’s a rich yellow tending towards oranges but also casts into yellow greens where it thins out. It was never so vibrant when it was a healthy functional leaf. Seems that in its dying, it gathered all its life force to produce a memorable vibrancy.
This is my first painting using Pan Colors. The Pan colors are completely flat pastels contained in circular plastic pans. My girlfriend recommended them knowing I love painting. She is always right. So I bought them because she is a wise woman. A wise woman’s advice is a gift to follow for life’s path. I bought the 80 set and it comes with Sofft applicators. These take the place of fingers and stumps in manipulating the colors.
The first action I took was use of the of short stubby fake fingers to calligraphically stroke on base colors. The pan colors pick up easily. In moments, I covered the paper. Using another couple of the Sofft tools, such as the small applicator and then the knife with cover, I painted.
Not until it was fuzzily finished did I break out the Dakota pastels and a couple of Unison for drawing the flower and leaf shapes out slightly more specifically.
This is color seduction in control. The energy of color seduction is beginning to conform to the artist’s will for the eye’s pleasures.