6 Waiting

A childhood crisis in miniature: the moment when desire, helplessness, and hope coexist. At first glance, the scene feels calm. An open sky stretches wide, a soft canopy of leaves frames the upper edge, and the simple geometry of a red roof settles quietly beneath. Yet beneath that calm lies tension. A red kite hangs suspended from a tree branch, caught not by malice but by chance. Its string falls straight down like a lifeline that has failed, and its bright body glows against the green-blue sky. It is a small drama, but to a child it is everything. The kite cannot be reached, and so the only option is to wait for an adult’s help or for nature itself to intervene.

The kite becomes a symbol of a child’s sense of control and independence, something that feels as though it should respond instantly to small hands and hopeful commands. Kites are meant to rise and return, to answer the pull of the string and the intention of the flyer. Here, however, it is trapped, held fast in the tree’s dark embrace. The roles have shifted. The child is no longer directing the flight but watching from a distance. The composition heightens this feeling. The kite sits high in the upper left corner, nearly absorbed by shadowed foliage, while the lower half of the painting rests in domestic stillness: hedge, roofline, and the suggestion of life inside. That physical separation creates the emotional ache. The child is close enough to see the kite from their bedroom window, yet powerless to retrieve it.

A single light glows warmly from within the house. It may be the child’s room, still awake long after bedtime. That light introduces narrative. It suggests a restless mind replaying the moment the string snagged, imagining solutions, bargaining with the morning wind. The kite becomes the last thought before sleep and the first upon waking. Its red surface holds the painting together like a steady pulse. Even the sky appears suspended in stillness, balanced between late afternoon gold and approaching night, as if the world itself is holding its breath.

Colour plays a crucial role, echoing the tonal harmony found in Decision. Both paintings share restrained greens, soft yellows, and deep shadows, punctuated by the urgency of red. In Waiting, the red kite carries the emotional weight, just as red accents in Decision signal tension and consequence. The green atmosphere feels reflective and uncertain, while the warm interior light suggests safety and reassurance. Outside is unpredictability. Inside is comfort. The contrast heightens the quiet drama of the scene.

Ultimately, Waiting speaks to that formative childhood lesson that not everything can be solved immediately. Some problems require patience. Rescue will come, perhaps in the morning with a ladder, or perhaps in the night with a forgiving gust of wind. Until then, the kite remains suspended between sky and branch, and the house below glows gently in hope, keeping watch through the long dark hours.