I awoke a couple of weeks ago to an image in my mind, it was green, with yellow bars. Some sort of military rank insignia. It stuck with me as something bold, something to be shown. I carried the image with me awhile, then researched it online until I found what I believe it was.

From there I set to sketching it out in the sketchbook, to see if I could grasp the lines properly to put it on canvas. It took awhile as it usually does, but finally I was able to get it close enough for myself and colored it in.

Then I realized though there are greens aplenty, I hadn’t spent much time sampling them, after all, when 95% of the items growing in the yard have some sort of green, where do you start?

I spent the next 30 minutes or so roaming the backyard trying various plants at random or because their petals had been particularly nice, so why not their leaves?

After a bit I found ones that would do the trick, or at least allow me to start.

The yellow, which I have been getting from our neighbor across the streets yard is now running in short supply. I had to harvest some more and took what remained of the neighbors offering.

So does it equal the image in my mind?

Yes, it has the principal, the balance, the power I was looking for and no, it is neither as crisp or real as the one in my mind, but these are the steps I took to try to get to it.

I originally started this project around the first of September, and now finally decided to get it posted as Veteran’s Day comes to an end.