For a while now I have wanted to paint an Iris, but for some reason I have been a little frightened of the subject matter. One day helping my daughter with her homework I had a light bulb moment….. I kept telling her, “Break it down into simple subjects so you can understand what you need to learn and it becomes less overwhelming for you. Then learn the subjects you have highlighted one by one, and when next you look, you have not only understood what was confusing you, but you have learnt the whole topic in its entirety.”

For me……. A simple case of practicing what you preach…. It still took some courage to finally sit down with an Iris and study it and draw it and then paint it. I started with the background first leading myself in with something really easy, then the leaves and when observing the leaves I noticed some of the salmon colour from the petals were evident in the shadows of the leaves so I included that and next thing I new I had painted the whole stem and buds…..

The challenge was overcoming my own fear of the subject and not that I couldn’t paint it!

And the finished product…….