children of the crazy iris

My Third step in learning the figure

Changes in method…

This piece did begin with a sketch

The 2 first works in Symbol of Woman had no plan whatsoever and basically “sketched” themselves as I painted them. But Iris was different, I had learned a lot from the first two pieces and she came to me in a sketch.

All I saw was this figure laying down and the flowers beside her stretching out like street lights down a path.

Initially when we learn perspective, one of the drawings we always do is foreshortening to show depth and distance, and its usually using a road with streetlights that shrink as they get closer to the horizon line.

I don’t know why but this has always been one of my favorite tools. I think I just like the idea that the lights stretch on forever, always guiding us to the horizon line.

the shift to night and the moon

I really thought she belonged in that beautiful daytime garden. But following the theme of the street lights, I realized I wanted the irises to glow like lamps. Or maybe have fireflies around them

So the night showed up. And then the orange grew under the purples because I wanted them to feel glowy.

I am FASCINATED with the process of putting 873 billion colors underneath another color in order to make it glow or shift or have depth. I want to stretch everyones eye’s out.

and so she grows

She seems to be close to the finish, but I have a feeling there is much more for her to tell me.

I can feel myself really growing as an artist in this piece, because it came along so much more quickly. This is a huge part of being a painter, exploring methodology. Once you know how to “paint a thing” or style, then you can do it more deeply and quickly. But in the beginning, you have to be brave enough to make a huge mess of everything in order to discover something new.

To be continued….