Spring comes first at the Botanical Gardens, the cactus start to swell and palms put out huge new branches, ferns thicken and unfurl from their centers. Intrigued by the changing leaf colors as winter wanes, I found a crowd of colorful Croton plants and moved them around a little to isolate this one.
There was a lot more color after studying the plant, and this painting took longer than I expected. 'Some green, a couple of orange, a bit of yellow, leaves aren't that hard.' Or so I thought. The light on each waxy leaf created new hues and shades, the shadow of one leaf onto another created more.
I was positioned in a narrow aisle and the best moment of the day was a toddler who considered pebbles on the raised beds delicious. His stroller brought them right to his reach; he waited until Mom admired the Venus Fly Traps and grabbed a handful. We warned her, but he was determined to have his souvenir. Apparently he had been practicing this grab for a while, not a healthy place to eat, and he probably went home with a bit of extra weight.
Greenhouse Croton, 12.5 x 16.5 pastel 2011
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