Three sunflowers gathered in a blue vase, each one catching the light differently. The flower facing the sun full-on is blazing — every petal pure, unshadowed yellow, gold straight through. The others turn away from it at their own angles, and where the light can’t reach directly, the petals go somewhere richer: plum, moss, burnt orange, deep red, all threaded through the shadow side. The vase holds that same split, lit blue on one side, sinking to indigo on the other.

What I wanted was for the shadow to be just as alive as the light — not an absence, but its own kind of color. Sunflowers already feel like little suns to me, so painting three of them side by side, each catching the light in its own way, felt like watching the same warmth show up differently depending on where you’re standing.

I painted “Three Suns” on gallery wrapped 1.5-inch canvas, the painting continuing around the edges. It nestles in a thick black floater frame.