My wife cuts flowers from her garden and arranges them almost casually in glass vases.

I wanted to express something of summer’s color in this little painting of one of those arrangements. I abstracted the shapes of the plants and used paint right from the tube. Painted loosely, even crudely. Only the color mattered. The bright blue background, scrubbed over a burnt Sienna undercoat, contrasts sharply with the fire engine red of the simplified organic shape of gladiolas. Sunshine yellows mimic that shape and balance the left-leaning red. Cool greens cascade down the middle, centering the composition. The yellow-green triangle across the bottom anchors the upward red/yellow explosion.