Underneath the Yellow

An abandoned flower painting finds a second life beneath an unexpected layer of yellow.

A fictional art journal story inspired by everyday moments. Gallery imagery is illustrative.

There is another painting beneath this one.

It had a dark background, a carefully arranged vase, and flowers I spent far too long correcting. Every time I worked on it, I found something else to fix. Eventually, I turned the canvas towards the wall.

Three months later, I needed a surface to test a yellow mixture.

I used that canvas.

One broad stroke covered half the vase, and I felt more interested in the painting than I had in weeks. I kept going. Some of the old petals remained visible through the fresh paint. Their edges gave me shapes I would never have planned.

I nearly covered them, too.

Instead, I left a small patch near the bottom corner. You can still find the original flowers if you look closely.

I like that the painting remembers how much trouble we had getting here.