Epiphylum Cactus Orchid

This is not exactly needlework, but I may try to stitch one some time. This is the first red cactus orchid that I have; my old ones are white. This is not fragrant, unlike the white ones. I want to see how long the bloom lasts.

These are the white ones that are fragrant. They are not the "traditional" night bloomers that last only the night, and mine lasted a couple of days.

In the olden days in China, poets and intelligentsia held all night vigils watching the blooms open, and then die in the morning, as they lamented the empheralness of beauty. Something along the lines of: time-orders-old-age-to-destroy-beauty

I am feeling philosophical today - must be because I have to write my essay on Color Contrast!

Complementary Contrast - Tulips Done

I'm calling it done even though the complementary contrast effect is not as obvious as I would like, especially when viewed in bright light.

 In more subdued lighting and if I squint my eyes it's a little more obvious. This will have to do.

Complementary Contrast

Having put this aside for a while, it took some effort to get back into. This may or may not be the final version. I grossly underestimated the amount of ribbons I need; luckily for the yellow ribbon the color is straight out of the bottle. On the other hand, I'll have to mix my own color for the green ribbons for the leaves. The yellow tulips are against 3 different backgrounds - purple, light grey and light purple. Theoretically the sharpest contrast is against the purple vase, which hopefully will show up.

PS I  used a bead under the tulip to give it its shape.