It's finally starting to feel like spring here in the NE so I thought I'd share another painting of mine. Hope it brings a smile to you.

Totally love this one, Lynn - iris might well be my favorite flower, and their peak season always seems far too short. You've given us a way to time travel to iris season, any day of the year!

Laurel

I painted this wet on dry with an eye dropper. Then I took a large, round brush with clear water and dragged some of the "drawn on" pigment over. This technique leaves lots of white space if done a certain way, so there is a lot of value contrast. I'm doing a demo of this method for the VT Watercolor Society at the end of the month. Should be fun to see what people come up with from the photos of various things I'm providing for them.
I've forgotten - in what media/medium do you paint?

Very nice Lynn,
Iris's are one of my favorite springtime flowers and it is a shame they don't last longer into the season!

They smell so good, don't they? And the colors they come in are just fantastic. I had started a new iris bed a few years ago of all these very fancy German bearded iris. The last pot I bought had iris borers in it, and I didn't know it. They got into every plant I had and hollowed out the inside of the ryzomes so they all died. There were a few tiny ones left, which I washed with soap and water, and grew to a decent size in sterile pots. I planted them hundreds of feet away from where the borers had been. This year they are decent-sized plants so we'll see if I was able to salvage anything. It was so upsetting for all that hard work and money to be eaten up by these disgusting-looking grubs.
Do you have lots of iris Irene?

Irises don't seem to bloom until summer around here. Beautiful painting, Lynn!

Thanks Pat. I think they bloom here in early June. At least the foliage is coming up and looks pretty healthy so far. I think the Japanese iris bloom earlier here but I can't remember exactly when. The weather has been so odd here many things are way ahead of schedule. Like the grass..... Wish that weren't growing so fast yet.

Lynn,very nice, I also love irises, the one thing the deer and rabbits don't distroy. Wish I could paint but will enjoy yours. Happy Spring!

Lynn,
That's a shame about the boreers and I do haope you were able to salave some of them and yes we have then mostly yellow with a hand full of purple ones, ours are in bloom now, I expect they will be soon gone.
I have a beautiful rose garden and I read did a great deal of reading on them last yr about the prunning and I did what I read and cutt hem back to 10 inches you wouldn't believe how they have come back the one has about 2 dozen roses in bloom right now and my yellow ones are starting to open too, I just love the spring time flowers but the roses will bloom all summer long!

That's great Irene. How about photographing your roses in full bloom and posting a photo so we can all admire them? I bought 2 dwarf rose bushes last year. They were supposed to get no taller than 1' x 2 - 3' wide, which is just what I wanted. They are about 2.5' tall and about 4 - 5' wide. Hmmmmmm... They also bloomed all summer and into the fall. I was surprised since roses don't tend to do all that well in VT. However, they survived the winter-with-no-snow, which was amazing they didn't freeze without the snow cover. I am already cutting them back so they don't go totally out of control. I don't know why they got so big so I may need to move them from where they are.

Lynn,
I will have to get my daughter to do that, I certainly wouldn't know how to! Don't be afraid to cut them back as needed I wish I had done more of that last summer but I will this year !

Lynn,
I have the picture saved but not sure how to get it here ????

When you click on "Post Reply", scroll down to the bottom of the page. You'll see a small box that says "Browse". Click on that and it will get to your computer. When you find the photo you want to post you click on "Open" in the dialogue box. Then you hit either "add the file" or "submit" or both. Last night I had to try several times before it uploaded properly.
Some of you out there are more savvy at this than I, so if I haven't given Irene the right directions, please correct me! Thanks, Lynn

Lynn, your paintings are amazing - what a talent!!!!! Irene, your roses are beautiful. Thank you both for sharing with us,
Ger xx