In the murals of Dunhuang, the lotus appears everywhere: under the feet of figures, in the borders of a ceiling, in the hands of a donor. It is not decoration. It is a statement that something can begin in difficulty and still open.
Our lotus pieces keep the shape but not the scale. The petals are small enough to sit against the collarbone, and the gold line that curls out of them is the movement a painter would use to suggest air.
What you bring to it is not in the painting. That part is yours.