Single

Back to watercolor painting.....

Last time I left off, I was inspired by the Irises blooming in my neighbor's garden. I was transfixed by the delicate details and colors as well as shapes and lines of this variety of Iris.

Today I finished the painting that has been drawing dust on my drafting table and reflected on the idea of "single"; single flower and single as in the status of relationships.

Single leaves time for individual exploration and unfolding.

One can be the "center of attention" and it is okay.

Single
watercolor
Joanne Osband

Wild Irises

With my recent Iris love affair, I could not resist taking photographs of the Wild Irises I saw at Earth Sanctuary on Whidbey Island in Washingtion. In yesterday's blog, I shared more about this fabulous place.

Today, it is Wild Irises!


Look at the incredible details in this lovely specimen.


And now for the purples...



Aren't they amazing?!

Iris As Promised

In a previous post, I talked about my recent love affair with Irises.

Also, I mentioned that the Irises have inspired me to paint a watercolor portrait.

As promised...


These beauties are growing in my neighbor's flower gardens.

In Love With Irises

My most recent love affair is with Irises.

Is it because they are in bloom here in Washington?

I am intrigued by the colors, shapes, and details of the lines. I have begun a watercolor painting of my neighbor's beautiful purple, lavender, and yellow-orange, Iris and have patiently awaited the bloom of the Iris I was gifted with last fall.

They are just beginning to open.......


Look at this lovely specimen!


We had a terrible wind and rain storm last evening and this morning I found one of my beautiful Iris on the ground. Hoping to be able to stake it for support, to my dismay, I saw that a slug had chewed through its stem. Then, observing the others...........I found one bud tip chewed off.

THIS WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! Tonight with flashlight in hand, I will eliminate the guilty slug or slugs. No mercy!

Why Irises?

Now I know why the Dutch artist Vincent Van Gogh painted irises, and one need not be isolated in an asylum either. They are ablsolutely stunning!

I took some photos of my neighbors iris patch.




Take a close look at this magnificent flower!



And they have a fragrance similar to the smell of grapes. Wonder if it has anything to do with the flower being purple?

Maybe it is time to get out my paints...

Irises and Vincent Van Gogh

Irises are blooming now which makes me think of Vincent Van Gogh's paintings. Here is one of my favorites and its story.





Irises
Vincent van Gogh
Dutch, Saint-Rémy, France, 1889
Oil on canvas
28 x 36 5/8 in.


In May 1889, after episodes of self-mutilation and hospitalization, Vincent van Gogh chose to enter an asylum in Saint-Rémy, France. There, in the last year before his death, he created almost 130 paintings. Within the first week, he began Irises, working from nature in the asylum's garden. The cropped composition, divided into broad areas of vivid color with monumental irises overflowing its borders, was probably influenced by the decorative patterning of Japanese woodblock prints.

There are no known drawings for this painting; Van Gogh himself considered it a study. His brother Theo quickly recognized its quality and submitted it to the Salon des Indépendants in September 1889, writing Vincent of the exhibition: "[It] strikes the eye from afar. It is a beautiful study full of air and life."

Each one of Van Gogh's irises is unique. He carefully studied their movements and shapes to create a variety of curved silhouettes bounded by wavy, twisting, and curling lines. The painting's first owner, French art critic Octave Mirbeau, one of Van Gogh's earliest supporters, wrote: "How well he has understood the exquisite nature of flowers!"