Christie Jedele Art

I have always been inspired by nature, and recently learned that the Poinsettia is the birth flower of December. Being a December baby I felt inclined to paint this beauty. I love this plant because of how its leaves transform through a process called photoperiodism. This process allows the leaves to change from green to different shades of pink and red in response to the lack of, or certain amounts of light. As I painted these poinsettias I listened to “The Legend of the Poinsettia“, the story of Lucida’s gift, which although not based on science, is a beautiful tale of how poinsettias came to be. A young child named Lucida, who’s parents were poor, gifted the Christ child with some weeds because she had nothing else to give after ruining the blanket her sick mother had started. When she placed the weeds on the manger, each weed suddenly was tipped with a flaming red star. The manger was lit and glowed as if they were a hundred red candles. To this day in Mexico, the poinsettia is called flor de la Nochebuenao flower of the Holy Night. Although this is a weed in Mexico, it is now a beautiful floral decoration as we celebrate the holiday season.