Beginning Abstract

 Emerging Iris

12” x 16” watercolor

The Sisters challenge this week was abstract painting. I started out with a photo I took of three irises and some daisies in our yard. I started trying to sketch them in abstract. I was not very good at it. Eventually I got to a point where they started to remind me of Dali’s melting clocks. From there, I took off. We have a cow skull in our yard (from a cow who died of old age in the desert) who we call Art. I wanted to include him in a very realistic manner. If you look at some of Dali’s work, he often include realistic objects that just make you scratch your head. I also liked the straight lines of the fence, so I stuck some of those in. As I continued sketching, it looked to me like my irises were going from semi realistic, in front, to almost surreal, on the left, to completely bizarre. The distant right side iris seems to have dripped completely into a puddle with a frog sitting on a lili pad in the middle. I decided that worked. Somehow, I wanted to acknowledge the lovely daisies that seem to be taking over parts of our yard. I think the tubular things that come out of and go back into the ground must have come from a recent rereading of Frank Herbert’s Dune. 

Those are some of the ramblings that went through my mind as I was doing this painting. I have no idea what I will do next week. I wonder if I can abstract a barn.