Stately Irises palette knife painting in oils

stately Irises palette knife painting

Oil on box canvas (1.5cm deep)

15x20cm (6"x8")

Available in my Etsy store

I love this time of year. After the tulips die down, the irises are the next to appear. As well as the dark blue border irises, these pale purple irises are amongst the first to appear. They are tall, and although not as showy as the bearded irises, they give a beautiful purple haze under the citrus trees.

About this painting
I painted this in a loose impasto style, dancing around the canvas with my palette knife, aiming more for the purple glow than true representation of the irises.

Some Close-ups of the knife work

Kaleidoscope - Colourful tulip still life abstract Palette knife painting

Kaleidoscope - Colourful tulip still life abstract

Palette knife painting

40x40 (16x16") cm on 5 cm (2") box canvas

Painted on a black gesso ground

No frame needed as it can be hung without a frame.
Available for purchase 250€ int. shipping included

About this painting
This painting is a rework of a partly finished realistic tulip painting. I wanted an abstract feel, so I lost some of the original tulips (there were a lot of them) and made the remaining ones larger. But, they still looked a little too realistic and I felt myself tightening up with the painting.

Knowing that I would finish up with realism if I carried on, I took drastic action!. I got out a large palette knife and scraped over the whole surface to lose the definition. I was starting to like it better. I continued applying paint and scraping back in some places. I am now calling it done.
It certainly is colourful - an antidote to today's grey and rainy day.