Dahlia's Fireworks

Oil on canvas.

24x30x1"

A great burst of dahlias fills the vase, and every one is a firework of its own. They open in every color of late summer — deep magenta and royal purple, flaming orange and gold, and a great dinner-plate bloom of crimson-pink at the height of the arrangement. Among them rise slender white cosmos on their thin green stems, nodding lightly above the heavier heads, with a few sprigs of lavender leaning from the left. Silver-grey leaves of dusty miller cool the base, and the flowers sit in a rounded pot of coral and blue. On the dark table a petal or two has fallen, and a soft grey leaf rests to one side. It is a painting made in praise of the dahlia — abundant, exuberant, gloriously alive — a burst of color like fireworks, caught and held in full bloom.