Purple Iris, 2005
oil pastel
I've been working on drawing flowers around the yard, and these Iris really caught my eye.
I got the basic shapes drawn and started applying color, just as a contour at first.
I like to fill in large color areas next and begin to build the layers of colors on top. It's a very anxious stage as my colors tend to be somewhat arbitrary at this point. The colors build and change as I go along, and sometimes look quite different than you might expect.
As I build the colors up begin to adjust the contrasts, making areas darker or lighter as I need. The colors and quality of light changes quite a bit when I am outside working, which adds to the idea that I'm not sure where the picture is going to end up. Sometimes I see a great stage for the work to be in, and make quick adjustments to capture a particular mood.
As the colors build up they get thicker and the pastels begin to get sticky. I like this point because it makes the work more like painting, and the colors mix together wonderfully. There's a loss of control that also comes, which can make me wonder if I will be able to pull off the work.
But then something just kicks in and the thing comes under some sort of control. I generally make some dark contour lines to define the forms late in the process, which helps me resolve other areas I might have had trouble with along the way. But that whole middle stage of anxious work doing these plein air oil pastels is what really has me hooked on working this way.
