Black Stars - Flower Art Painting

'Black Stars' is the synergy of a play on words, composed in rich, oil paints. Elle Smith has creatively captured the enigma of a black star with the Zantedeschia (or 'Zanted' in its shortened form) hybrid species of Calla Lily. This lily produces deep purple, burgundy flowers which are almost black, given the depth of colour of the bloom.

The mysterious Zantedeschia actually originates from Nigeria, Tanzania, South Africa and Malawi, and has fascinated the world so much that it is now cultivated in California, Holland, New Zealand and Ecuador. The Calla Lily is less hardy and prefers warmer climates as opposed to the Arum Lily varieties. Historically, the Calla Lily has been used to depict hidden meanings, one of which Freud and artist, Georgia O'Keefe have accelerated, is that of the female sexuality purported by the shape of this flower. Added to this is the fact that this plant is dangerously poisonous.

Moving to the second part of the concept depicting in this art painting, we have the mystery of what a 'Black Star' truly is; even scientists argue as to what this phenomena actually is. The closest determination is that a Black Star is a star that is collapsing towards forming a Black Hole, however freezes before reaching the Schwarzschild horizon. This theoretical concept states the Black Star is the opposite of a Black Hole, and comprises of matter. A Black Hole is perceived as a vacuum from which objects cannot escape once they pass the event horizon. Stephen Hawking is one scientist who is sceptical about this as he believes quantum theory enables energy and information to escape from a black hole, so an event horizon would not exist. 

The flower art painting of 'Black Stars' was composed to evoke that mystery and thoughtfulness by London artist, Elle Smith. This oil painting has golden undertones with accents of pinks, cerise and purple. It is silhouette-like as the light catches the edges of lily flower heads, with just gentle eclipses from the Outer Space in the background.

Elle Smith has been awarded a Special Merit Award by Light Space and Time Gallery in August 2017 for this flower art painting. Please feel free to view the full Botanical Art Competition exhibition by clicking here.

Finally, given the beauty and mystery evoked by this painting, Elle has since converted this beautiful artwork to a silk design. Black Stars will shortly be available as a silk bolero scarf in our shop.

Oil on Canvas, 20 by 8 inches (50 by 20 cm)