Flag and Yellow Leaf was done late in the series of Flag paintings, which started as studies for a never completed, fourth, wheel and vessel painting. As studies, the idea retained a sense of whimsy and spontaneity welcome at the time, while the intensity and focus I brought to them gave them an ironic gravity and seriousness. Here, the yellow leaf lends the piece a certain poignancy yet tenderness as I usually used green leaves, but opened up to the idea of greater, expressive possibilities.