Botanicals #47

forty-seventh painting

back alley weed patch

The shepherd’s purse (Capsella bursa-pastoris) plant has seeds that are pinkish and heart shaped, a weed meant to be loved. Similar to the dandelion it has many uses, eat the leave in salads, use the seed pods in cooking to give a peppery flavor and use it as a medicine to treat ailments from nosebleeds to hemorrhages.

The tiniest bee flits to every pineapple chamomile flower and drinks at each stop.

I paint the soft dirt colour in the bright sun with it's dashes of dark shadow. I am totally enjoying painting many many pink hearts across the canvas. I make a delicate gentle image of the ecosystem of the many tiny plants.

botanicals #47 June 16, 2015 oil on canvas 9" x 12"