JUNE 2020 (2)

You are in for a treat! Lesley M e-mailed me at the end of May yo say that she had started a painting of a group of iris, she said, "I sat outside on Thursday and sketched a group of irises. I then re-drew it onto watercolour paper and yesterday managed to start painting it, as it's too hot to garden. I'm really pleased with first flower head and the bit of a second I did. It looks lively. Now all I've got to do is finish the other three flowers, the stems and the leaves WITHOUT cocking it up! I don't fancy my chances"


Today I had another e-mail from her, she says "I've finally finished the Irises and I'm attaching it, together with the original sketch and a half way photo. I'm quite pleased with it but it has taken a long time to do and I'm not that happy with the stems and leaves but you don't look too much at them. It's the mixing of greens that I find incredibly difficult. I spent yesterday morning practicing painting stems and I was happy with my greens but when I came to mix them again they didn't work nearly as well. I know its just a case of practicing, I just wish I could be consistent. Also I have to say with it being so warm my paints did dry incredibly quickly and it was difficult to work out how much water to add to bring it back to the original shade. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!"

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I agree with you Lesley I cannot say how many times I have practiced a colour or a whole part of a picture until I felt I could do it, for the whole thing to go pear-shaped on the actual piece. But I don't think that you need to worry about these stems, I think they are Siberian iris (?) and some do have quite bright stems, whereas others even have black stems. I can see that you have added shading to one side of the stem to model them and the spathes are fantastic, they really do look dry and papery. The iris themselves are beautifully painted, I know how difficult they are as their petals grow in all directions and require you to show them to be travelling away from, and toward the viewer. I think that you should be really proud of yourself, you chose a very difficult subject and you have executed them beautifully, very well done.