Lotus and Dragonfly, Robert Berkeley Green

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“There are bass minnows in the water below the lotuses. And the water in the middle of the leaf creates a kind of magnification. There aren’t really cast shadows; it’s a variation of color. It’s not really light and shade as such, it’s just color variations, as you would see in the water. The water almost makes it a pattern, indicating a reflection on the water.
“I did this all right on site. There’s a pond by Lakeview and I had a plastic boat I’d get out in. I had a special seat that I could put across the edges of the boat. One day two cranes came flying over and I must have moved a little and one went squawking one way and the other went in the other direction. In the upper flower in the lotus you can see there’s a shift in the diadelphic stamen, when they change the diadelphic stamen turns green and the color of the petals begins to take on a darker tone. The upper one has a sort of bluish cast and a warm yellowish cast and the lower one has more of a greenish gray and some of the veins in the petals become stronger. You might notice that.”