We first noticed it as a volunteer in the back yard of our old house, 25-ish years ago. How it ever grew there is beyond me. The conditions at the little blue house were atrocious; gummy soil, under a pecan tree so no sun, and no nutrients. But every year a half dozen or so of these would bloom. So naturally, when we moved (12 years ago,) I dug up a few to bring with us to the this house. In spite of valiant efforts to plant the iris in a moisture rich compost friendly environment, right next to the water hose, it had not thrived like it should have. Well, that is until last year when some of it was re-planted right next to the fountain. It LOVES living there and often rewards me with blossoms.
This was my first time to paint a Louisiana iris, which is quite lovely, but a very complicated flower to paint. It also smelled like stale socks when I brought it up to the studio....not pleasant. Even though the weather was cool, I had to open the studio window just to air out the strong lingering stink of the oh-so-beautiful iris.
From now on, I'll just enjoy the blooms from a distance.
The top painting is 6" x 6" oil on canvas. The painting below is 6" x 8" oil on canvas.
3 comments:
I'm really interested in one of these iris paintings. Are they still available? If so, how much? Thanks!
The iris paintings are really nice. You captured the look of the wild blue iris. You might be interested in some of the other forms of native Louisiana irises. http://zydecoirises.com/Species/Species.htm
Patrick
Thanks, Patrick O'Connor. I DO enjoy new plants in the garden. The link you sent has some beautiful flowers.
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