23 August 2023

Describe yellow flowers, taking the privileged position of being mentioned first—the yellow petals. The flowers are not entirely yellow, but it is the yellow petals that are being advertised here. The petals are thin and soft, not that substantial, but they are formed for the function of vision. Visually, they take precedence over everything else in the painting. They lead the eye into the center where one finds the pollen, the sex, the reproduction, the nectar. The flowers are pushed up highest above the rest of the plant. This plant presents a facade of yellow flowers. Beneath this surface, we have aspiring blooms and fading blooms. The aspiring blooms normally seem to seek out a position next to other flowers. That particular branch will often shoot out to fill a space, another space, a little further away, even though that would mean creating conflict with another opening bloom. Why would the plant compete with itself like this? It seems to want to create an uninterrupted sea of flowers, covering all below, concealing all, but cannot afford to cast itself in complete shadow, hiding everything from the sun.

I have always found the psychology of plants to be quite sublime and have always found affinities with human behavior in them, too. It is as if I am looking at a human being in a deconstructed non-linear way that does not make sense entirely but enables me to see things I would not have seen otherwise. And I think this affects the way I relate to others, as I assimilate my observations subconsciously. I am struggling to like people these days, and these flowers seem to say why, to some extent.