MAY IS AN INSISTENTLY colorful time, with flowers popping open on what seems an hourly basis, erasing the lingering gray of the winter landscape. This month, I wanted to work with a palette saturated in yellow, the color that animates the northeast in early spring: Daffodils, forsythia, witch-hazel and Cornus mas, or cornelian cherry, happily punctuate the woods and open hillsides, and even stony New York City neighborhoods. I found the ideal palette in the minimalist color-field work of American artist Anne Truitt (1921-2004)—known for her refined, decisive approach to sculpture, painting and drawing—and selected one...