Paintings & Stories: 24. Chocolate Cosmos- a Delicious Flower!

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Chocolate Cosmos, Cosmos atrosanguineus
©Heeyoung Kim
Watercolor

Looks beautiful, and smells delicious, too! Chocolate Cosmos has reason for its name. It smells like chocolate, really! Compared with other Cosmos, this particular species is fairly small plant with astonishing flower with beautiful fragrance. Sadly, this beauty, a Mexican native, is considered as extinct in its native habitat. Never been found in nature over hundred years now. That is why I decided to paint it. 
In most photos the flowers appear very dark, and very commonly people believe it is dark chocolate color.
But, its common name is from its fragrance, not from its color. 
Also, the sunshine did magic when I painted this. The fresh flowers showed off bright red color under strong sunshine. So I decided to give them bright red, even though I can expect there could be some different ideas about the color. My heart followed the sunshine!  

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