Calathea and Sassy Pink composition-1

This week we are busy at the farm clearing the initial young fruits of the oil palm, merely a cultural practice to encourage later fruits to be bigger and more even ripening. On one of those rounds I met across a clump of this calathea lutea. The broad leaves of this plant are used by the local people here especially the Kelabit to wrap rice when they go for day long journeys to neighbouring villages  mostly on foot. What is equally attractive about this plant are the terminal flower spikes where the brown bracts cover insignificant yellow flowers.

Arrangement # 89

In the above example the calthea leaf, some 60 cm wide and  80cm long , is used as place mat for the glass vase. Here I crowd the calathea spikes and let them arrange themselves in irregular upright form like in the wild.

To make the display wild and tropical and exotic I lay the pendulous stem of the heliconia sassy pink around the base of the vase. That seems easy.

Finally to create a signature to the composition, I remove some of the sassy pink bracts to expose the partly hidden flowers and circle it around the calathea spikes.

I thought that's looking good.  Therefore am pleased to give this name to the composition....That's Looking at You Kid.