I am constantly inspired by my garden flowers because their shapes and colors provide endless designs and spread cheerfulness. I always begin sketching these flowers from life, and add detailed notes that help when I begin painting them. more »
Inspired by the vivid colors and curled shapes of the iris petals, I began by drawing these beauties from life. The background is a combination of warm & cool greens, the complementary color of the irises. more »
The iris is one of my favorite flowers. Its bright colors and ruffled petals inspire me to draw and paint it from life. more »
My inspiration for this painting was the frilly bearded irises in our garden. Beginning with numerous sketches from life, I chose the deep purple hand-painted collage papers from my stash and began cutting the large petal shapes of the iris. more »
This bouquet is a combination of pink and red peonies, deep purple Japanese irises and some feathery Baptisia. It speaks of spring and the first flowers to appear in the garden. more »
After a long winter followed by the pandemic we are experiencing now, I was inspired to paint some of my irises. Flowers are so fresh and have vivid colors that lift one's spirits, especially at this time. more »
Floral bouquets have to be one of my favorite subjects to paint. These short irises are a vivid blue violet and wonderful to paint! more »
This is another sumi-e watercolor that was completed in one sitting. I used my sketch from life done in May. The blossoms on this iris were bronze and coppery tones. It was a joy to paint! The background was finished wet-in-wet with a mix of green, orange and white gouache. more »
I have been inspired by my garden flowers — the colors are luscious and bright! This piece was worked from using my original sketch, done from a still life of a Japanese iris. They are much smaller than the bearded variety. I set up the iris in one of my mom’s antique jars that has […] more »
These irises are smaller than the bearded irises, and the blossoms don’t last very long. What attracts me to these flowers is the color — a very intense purple. They also are early spring flowers, and I take lots of photos of them outside and also as a cut flower in vases. I used dioxazine […] more »