Inspiration from the Christmas Cactus

Hello everyone,

Wishing you a blessed New Year.

This is not an art post. It is about my Cactus that kept me company as I worked through some of the art work the past days.

 

Watching my Christmas cactus bloom and unfold was such a joy.

Sharing this  joy with you through these pictures. You can read more about the Christmas Cactus on google. 

Here are the pictures ..
This was how the bud looked when it first started growing...

 

soon I noticed tinges of beautiful color akin strokes from a paint brush.

 

You can see the petals forming at this stage. The bud has also taken its characteristic horizontal position. In the background you can see more tiny buds.

The bud is long and elongated with a sharp tip, and the growth is maintained in the same horizontal position and parallel to the floor underneath. It is amazing to see the thin green cactus. This cactus I read can be handed down the generations (I mean the same plant) and read about a plant that has lived for about 140 years being handed down the generations. I got this last year for Christmas and has now been with me for a year. It blooms only once a year, and the last time they bloomed was the last year December.

The unfolding process is quite rapid compared to the time it takes to build up to this mature stage. The following picture was taken the morning of the day one of unfolding.

Morning of day 2 of unfolding:

 

Night day 2 unfolding. (it takes just two days for it to unfold and the unfolding is very dramatic and almost moves right in front of the eyes)

Day 3 morning picture. It had unfolded overnight on day 2 to its fullest beauty. This is a top down picture. Notice the stamen and the layers of petals and the flower faces down. This is the only flower that I have experienced that faces downwards.

 

This is a close up of the side view of the fully bloomed flower. It seems like a sky diver to me in a pretty pink dress..almost like a ballerina.

 

 

The following picture is a down up picture where I placed the camera beneath the flower and so you can see the ceiling as background.

 

 

This final picture is taken with my handcrafted clay sparrow. In the background you can see the Hallmark nativity set that was released last year. A ceramic angel made in Mexico hangs over the crib.

This picture is a close up of the Sparrow's breast, with the words that I wrote that His eye is on the sparrow, and with the relevant scripture.

Until next time,
Keep smiling!!