The Curious Poppy by Arletta

Real painting, another slice of Ordinary Me, that has been digitally enhanced. Mainly cropped, colors slightly enhanced in various ways too tedious and yet subtle to mention, slightly resized, and I used Squizz to open it up a bit and do a little reshaping. Oh, yes! Also, I took one section, that went from the top down past some of the smaller flowers, in a bit of a curved line, and I moved it in closer to the bigger flower. So, while this started out as a scan from an original painting, it is now quite it’s own thing.

By the way, this is from the same predominantly orange painting, and there is yellow orange, red orange, orange red, hot orange, pink orange, and orange pink, and a very light muddled bit of orange white that make up the most of it’s colorings; with a wee bit of green, silver, and, of course, big, black outlines.

The original painting was about, well, about how ordinary is not something to be despised. Ordinary is, in fact, what the majority strive to be: comfortable, happy, with some good work to do and some good relaxation to have, some friends and family, some love; no war, no starvation, no oppressing or being oppressed. It’s easy to forget that, but, ordinary is the same as “enough”. People are taught that they should want something more, but, people who actually have enough, and get to have ordinary days, who are not cursed to live in interesting times, are the happiest people alive.

This is not about being ordinary, persay, though it is still tinged with that meaning. It is about exploring, expanding your mind and heart to encompass more. This is a poppy that has friends, has a plot to call its own, and is still out there, eyes wide open, experiencing life. Which is, the other side of having enough, because, life is not about what you have or can obtain; to have a good life, one needs to appreciate what one has and to use one’s mind to experience it, to think, to love, to understand others and embrace the good in them.