“Bird of Paradise” – original watercolor still life of flowers

In 2021, I held a contest for choosing the next flower for this collection. Kira Reynolds won and chose the bird-of-paradise in honor of her grandfather, Francis Xavier Wentworth. A very tall man who was color deficient in red and green, he went by the name “Big Frank”. He would often quote these lines to his granddaughter, Kira,

Red sky at night,
sailors delight.

Red sky in the morning,
sailors take warning.”

As Kira put it, “Since he couldn’t see red I wonder what a red sky looked like to him. I also wonder what a bird-of-paradise, my favorite flower, would look like to him.”

Big Frank died summer of 2002, but Kira still remembers birds-of-paradise at his funeral. Birds-of-paradise are native to South Africa where they bear the symbol of freedom and joy.

This painting is now a part of my Flowers 2 Card Collection. This is the original painting.