Hello to all the returning students, and WELCOME if you are brand new!

One note before we get into the lesson - if you are finding me for the first time, be advised that this is an intermediate class. If you are just beginning your watercolor journey, I recommend you first take one of my beginning courses, Coneflowers or Tulips, and then come back to these.

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We are back today with our 6th class, in which we will marvel at and study the intricate nature of irises. These can be a somewhat complicated flower to capture in a loose frame, so we will break down the structure petal by petal before we put it all together in one moving flower.

This is the opposite approach from our peonies class in which we aimed to examine the flower as a whole, rather than each individual petal. Since Irises typically have anywhere from 6-10 petals, we can do this. This will help you feel more confident when we refer to the reference pictures we gathered and paint by memory.

Gathering Inspiration: we will search the internet to find a few images of irises to serve as inspiration and reference as we work.

Loose sketching: using our inspirations photos we will sketch out a few blooms to get more comfortable with the iris structure

Color Mixing: I will show you step by step how I create a range of blues, lavenders, and purples to showcase the depth of a the iris.

Proper Washes: taking a moment to look at and practice water ratios

Learning strokes: we begin with introductory practice strokes to get a feel for the motion of the flower

Wet into Wet: I'll show you what to look for when working wet into wet

Putting it all together: next we will put all the techniques we've learned thus far into practice, becoming comfortable with the process of layering darker pigment on top of a lighter wash to create an even bleed

Finishing Touches: I'll demonstrate how by asking a few key details to a loose painting, you can strengthen the botanical nature of its appearance

Iris Buds: merging our lavender hues with greens to create buds

Adding Stems and Leaves: we conclude by using our brush to create leaves to accompany our irises.

Supplies:

Canson 140 lb. coldpressed paper

Brushes: varying rounds in duplicate sizes, specifically two 2's, two 6's, 2 8's

Watercolors: I'll be using Winsor and Newton and Daniel Smith, however any artist grade watercolor will suffice

Cup of water

Paper towel to blot

Palette

Pencil and Eraser

Rashi Malik

Watercolorist

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