After working on pet and animal portraits for most of this year, I decided to take a little break and paint some still life and landscapes.  First of all, I want the practice.  I don’t want to get rusty in those subjects, even though working on one kind of painting informs and often improves another.  These are also the most popular subjects for licensing, so I wanted to create some new works to submit and sell in my next original art sale.  I’ve been working on rural landscapes, oranges, and now irises.  While I’ve been painting, I set up my camera so I could make video tutorials for those who want to paint along.  So, here is a video tutorial on painting these white irises…

This painting is based on a photo I took while on a walk one morning this spring.  One of our neighbors keeps the prettiest bed of irises, and that particular morning, the light was hitting the irises just right.  I couldn’t wait to paint them.

My goal with this painting was to capture the impression of the irises, not to portray them with 100% botanical accuracy.  I wanted it to be painterly and loose, which is against my tendency to tighten up, especially with flowers.  I learned that irises were a good subject for me because they have large, ruffled petals instead of a hundred tiny ones.

You can download the reference photo used for this painting HERE.

Palette I’m using for this painting –

Ultramarine Blue (Michael Harding)
Veridian (MH)
Burnt Sienna (WN)
Yellow Ochre (MH)
Cadmium Yellow Medium (Gamblin)
Naples Yellow Genuine Light (MH)
Cadmium Lemon (WN)
Flake White Replacement (Gamblin)

These are the colors I generally have on my palette, although I add and subtract colors based on the subject. For this tutorial, I did not use Rose Madder or Cadmium Red Light, but I used the rest of the colors.

If you’re new to oil painting, you can find my suggestions for a beginner palette HERE.

Other supplies – 

• Wood or glass palette or Gray Paper Palette
• Liquitex Professional White Gesso
• I used a Signet hog’s bristle brush, flat No. 2
• Gamblin Gamsol
• Airtight Solvent Container
• Galkyd Gel
• Paper Towels
• Baby Oil & baby wipes for clean-up
• Murphy Oil Wood Soap (for cleaning brushes)

Here is the oil painting video tutorial for the irises…

You can find more oil painting tutorials HERE.

Let me know if there are any other painting/art tutorials you would like me to make!

PS – This painting is original oil on 8 x 10 board, and will be available for purchase in my next original art sale.