Irises are a great subject to draw and paint.
Painting a bed of irises will combine the genres of flower and landscape painting. Many of the impressionist and post-impressionist artists depicted flowers growing outdoors, including Claude Monet, Camille Pissaro and Alfred Sisley. The most famous series of iris-bed paintings were done by Vincent Van Gogh in 1889. One of his iris paintings sold for $53.9 million in 1989. The Japanese woodblock-print artists Hokusai and Hiroshige were stong influences on Van Gogh's series of iris paintings. The iris flower was also a favorite subject of the Golden Age Dutch and Flemish realist artists.
Instructions
1. Notice the patterns and structure of the iris flower.
Locate a bed of irises for your subject matter. Photograph the flowers for later reference. Make drawings in pencil or charcoal on paper of the scene. Study the structure of the iris flower and leaves and try to reduce them to simplified forms in your sketches. Work out your composition ahead of time before you begin to paint.
2. Gesso your canvas ahead of time, using multiple layers and sanding each successively thinner layer. Allow plenty of time for the gesso to dry. Draw your iris bed composition onto the canvas with pencil or sharpened charcoal. Use the rules of good composition for a pleasing arrangement of forms. Balance your forms in simple, bold outlines. Your drawing is the foundation and backbone for the painting. Keep in mind Sir William Orpen's quote: "A painting well drawn is well enough painted."
3. If possible, paint your iris bed en plein air, outdoors directly in front of the subject. Observe the sunlight effects and try to suggest them in your painting. Notice the direction of your light source, the sun, and keep it consistent throughout the painting. Remember in painting, you're cutting up space, balancing it with the negative spaces and creating an interpretation of the scene in front of you. Try to capture the feel of the sun, the essence of the earth and the wind blowing between the flowers. Van Gogh used little swirls of thick paint to depict the wind in his iris paintings.
4. Paint in your background or underpainted colors first, blocking in the shapes of your drawing with large or square brushes. Set up your value structure, working from dark to light for a chiaroscuro effect of sunlight and shadow. Use the local color of the irises for a starting point for your own color scheme. Harmonize your colors with each other and develop pleasing color relationships. Juxtapose complementary colors next to each other for greater intensity and perception of saturation. Contrast areas of light and dark for greater visual interest.
5. Finish your picture by painting in the fine detail work. Use your smallest pointed round brushes to depict the botanical details of the iris flowers. Paint in the striated lines on the plant's lanceolate leaves. Place a sprig of flowers in the immediate foreground of the picture to add depth. Use atmospheric perspective to lighten and blur out-of-focus details in the farthest distance of your background. Add the highlights last of all, the tiny reflections of sunlight bouncing off the lightest parts of the petals.
