Forsythia

Meditating on the first flowering spring bush, Forsythia, erupts in yellow flowers. It appears bright against a leafless backdrop of barren branches and cloudy March skies. The painting mixes translucent grayish-taupe with a grayish yellow, punctuated sporadically by bursts of brighter yellow.

I like that the colors are diluted and fragile—that the brush strokes are deliberately muddled and unsure. Like early spring in New England, warm days struggling to assert themselves against a vigilant winter.

The eye draws toward the bright yellow clusters, taking refuge from the grey, hesitant backdrop. The first glimpse of the flowering shrub breaking out of winter….And the mind craves resolute beauty, the promise of spring, something hard won.

–STELIOS author of The Oculus