Monday, February 21, 2011

"Eloquence" 16x16 Acrylic on canvas

The Iris close up I was working on is finished. It took awhile to complete because I was trying to use a more laid back approach, using long and short strokes with my brush to get a feathery look to the petals. It was somewhat of a challenge for me to do this painting because in some areas I was a little stumped as to how it should look by the photo I was using. I noticed my photo was not as clear as it should have been in some of the areas. A little blurry I think. But it looks pretty good to me anyway. Just to give you some background as to the meaning of this flower, it signifies Faith, Hope, Wisdom and Valor. It has other meanings in countries throughout the world. In France for instance, it is its floral emblem, the Fleur-de-Ly's. However, I believe this Iris that I painted is a Dutch Iris. In the universal language of flowers, if you give an Iris to some one, it means," Your friendship means so much to me". I like that!

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Work in Progress ~ Blue Iris



I thought I would show another work in progress. I'm working from a cropped photo that I had taken a few years ago on one of my vacation trips to Vancouver Island. My Husband and I were walking through a garden in a park when we spotted a group of Blue Irises. They are among my favorite flowers. Their rich blue color and small dabs of yellow centers on some of the petals make a striking contrast. As you can see by my pallet, its full of color because I tend to do a lot of mixing to get a larger array of tones for this painting. I want to keep the tonal variations softer, so that it will look more natural and have a calming effect to the viewer.