Amongst the Iris Petals
Mixed Media on Board
50 x 50 cms, 19.5 x 19.5 inches
When I was a child, I wanted to become a florist, but I realised this was an impossible ambition because I could never stop sneezing when I entered their shops. I used to go in them just to look at all the different types of flowers, I was fascinated. That fascination has never left me. Now I grow multitude of flowers in my remote garden in Sussex, UK. Here the intense perfumes are taken by the wind and I photograph each stage of the plant’s life, so that I can draw it at leisure without sneezing!
I have always had an interest in macro photography and zooming in and spying upon the tiny world that is beneath our feet. “Amongst the Iris Petals” is a close-up of an iris, looking at the forms and shapes the curling petals make, including the array of colours that can both be seen and that I am inspired by. The background is based upon the colours from the garden beyond the flower.
As the viewer looking at my oil painting, I want you to see a different perspective of flowers. These huge undulating forms is perhaps how a beetle may see the petals as it searches for food. How do insects see our world? How much of this miniature environment do we ignore or not see? Yet it is this miniature ecosystem that we rely upon as a species, for both pollinators and diversity.
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