First lily

I’ve been enjoying watching the slight changes of the seasons this year. For a long time I have had such a broad understanding of seasonality. Of course you have Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn in America- roughly four large chunks of general changes in the year. But this year I’ve learned of Japan’s 72 microseasons which pointed to something otherwise obvious- there are many small changes constantly happening everywhere. This idea brought to my awareness, combined with my growing interest in observing nature’s changes made me aware of and particularly inspired to paint this lily here, the first of a bed of lilies to bloom. It seemed an important marker of something. Something optimistic. Soon this whole bed will be orange, but at this moment, only one flower has bloomed. How bold. Lovely.


Sincerely,
Jack

5/23/2024