Blatant

Bearded Iris 'Blatant', watercolor, 20"h x 12.5"w.

I finally got around to painting this bearded iris variety called 'Blatant' that re-bloomed in my garden this fall. Painting from photos is not ideal, but since the cut flowers had faded long ago, it was the only way to do it. I think the painting comes close to, but not quite, the amazingly rich red-purple color of the falls, with that touch of gold-brown at the edges--nature's perfection is so hard to imitate. Still it was a lot of fun to try. I used a dry brush technique for the subtle shadings on the flowers.

I can't wait for spring, when the irises bloom again. I hope to be able to paint more irises direct from life then--so many colors to choose from, such lovely flower forms!

Transformation

Transformation, color pencil, 9"h x 9"w.

With the winter solstice rapidly approaching, I wonder if we'll get a lot of snow this coming winter. Last winter (early this year) we had only a couple of snowfalls. In January we got about 6 inches of very wet snow one Sunday. I stopped to take some photos of it while driving--amazing how just a little bit of snow can turn a familiar landscape into a magical world!

Recently I finished this small colored pencil drawing done from one of those photos. An ordinary roadside clump of trees covered with tangled vines transformed into a lovely sight! I used some silver and gold colored pencils to enhance the monochromatic hues, but my drawing was still lacking something, so I dug up some old Daniel Smith Interference paints, and put a bit of Interference Silver over the snowy branches. These paints have ground pigments in them that refract the light to give them a metallic iridescence when viewed at different angles.

Unfortunately, you can't see the luminescence in this photo of the drawing, since the effect only shows up when viewed at less than 90 degree angles. Still, the iridescence and the composition make this drawing special.