Red and Yellow 1 by Colors of the Jungle by Simon Kuyvenhoven

About "Red and Yellow 1"

by Colors of the Jungle by Simon Kuyvenhoven

About the artwork

This is the bud of the Heliconia Rostrata (or 'lobster claw' or 'parrot's beak'). In six weeks, this bud - which can be the size of a hand - will unfold, revealing several dozen segments. This spectacular flower can reach a total length of several meters.

The colors in nature are always very refined; a painter could hardly imitate this. This is a good example of the photos I like to take: filling the screen without editing the colors. In this way I try to pay tribute to the colors of the jungle.

To me, Heliconias are one of the most fascinating flowers in tropical nature. Unlike many non-tropical flowers - which usually consist of a flower core surrounded by fragile petals - these large and powerful Heliconias radiate something majestic with their intense colors. You will never forget your first Heliconia.

Many dozens of Heliconia species can be found in tropical nature. The flowers can grow quite large to reach a length between 0.5 and 4.5 meters - depending on the species. Roughly speaking, there are different hanging and standing species. The beautiful green leaves can also reach large sizes and look a lot like the leaves of the banana plant.

Most Heliconia species are not fertilized by insects but by a bird: the hummingbird. The sweet nectar has a lot of nutritional value for the hummingbird, which it certainly needs given the energy-intensive way in which it flies. There are even hummingbird species whose beak has completely adapted to one species of Heliconi