Orchids, why don’t you like me? was first posted in July 2015. After my recent visit to the Butterfly Park in Benalmádena, Spain, where I admired butterflies and all types of orchids, I remembered that I had once painted potted orchids at a friend’s house a few years ago. I am publishing the sketch again for Throw Back Thursday. Orchids are still a challenge for me and I haven’t been able to keep them around for long.
“Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom. They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful.” Jim Carrey
It would appear so simple a task to keep flowers alive…they just open up and turn towards the light! Or so Jim Carrey believes!
Let’s be clear: orchids don’t like me.
In my house, these little pretties have much to worry about!
No matter what I do, they droop and die. And I don’t know how to resuscitate them either as I watch them wither away to nothing. They just don’t like my company it seems.
I do have friends who are quite successful growing them. The orchids display bloom after glorious bloom as they grow ever more beautiful.
But then, I have learned the secret to everlasting healthy looking plants that other friends, with some prodding, have revealed: buy a new potted orchid each time one plant dies.
The orchids in the photo were given to a friend of mine (they must be happy they are not coming home with me) and I wanted to be loose and fancy-free in painting them, but I did not succeed. Once again, the effect is too controlled for my liking.
I have painted flowers at other times. Here are hydrangea like flowers in the background of a portrait of my dog, Chico, now gone to doggie heaven. And I have painted dahlias and other flowers that brought back memories for me. Of course, I like the whimsical flowers in my hummingbird painting that now hangs above the piano in my living room. In my case, painting flowers is the safest method of keeping them alive.
The flowers in the photo look happy and healthy for the moment anyway!
Once again a beautiful picture, and I quite agree with your thoughts on Orchids, in all the years we have grown them only once did they bloom to perfection.
I love their delicate looks but they are too finicky for my taste!