Irises in progress

Inspired by the incredible work of Rosie Sanders I decided to start a large (half sheet) watercolour of the bearded irises in my garden.  The background will be the white of the paper which is a challenge in itself!  The first image is a detail showing where I'm up to so far, the other three are progress images showing the whole thing.  So far, so good!

Last Year's Iris

We're suffering miserable spring weather in the UK at the moment, it has been cold and wet and miserable and I think the flowers are sulking!  I went through my photos from previous springs and found a lovely iris to cheer me up.  Finances being tight at the moment I need to sell more and figured small work would be more affordable, so I'm working on a series of small square works.... fingers crossed this strategy works!

Square Dance - 7.5" x 7.5", watercolour on Fabriano Artistico extra white paper

Buy Square Dance

Blue Eyes - WIP

The first colour of the year in the garden, these delightful little flowers almost look like they don't belong among the greys and browns! I don't really know where I'm headed with this one, I'm hoping the composition will develop naturally as I paint.