I first discovered the protea flower several years before I made this drawing from a painting by the artist Cy Twombly called Proteus. His painting on paper, made in 1984, looks like a wild red flower bursting open. The name ‘Proteus’ is scrawled across the bottom of the painting. Because the flower in the drawing is red, to me the painting has always had this feeling of  a bold life energy expanding into the world from the heart of this flower.  

When I looked up the mythological background behind the name Proteus, I discovered that in Greek mythology, he was the son of Poseidon and a god of the sea and waters known as a shepherd to sea creatures. He had an ability to change forms and to see into the future and his name gives us the word “protean” which is defined as the ability to be flexible and adaptable.

When I tried drawing this single protea flower from an arrangement I had at home, it felt strangely calm and strong and grounded even though my first impression of the flower came from that wild painting by Twombly.  

I felt that this protea that I had drawn had that same life force I recognized in Twombly’s painting but it just needed the courage to let go in order to release it.  I paired the word courage with this plant in part wondering what would happen if we were able to truly and courageously open our hearts to the world. Would we become more flexible and adaptable, and able to change and flow like water?