My sister in law, Cherrie Osborn, is a wonderful artist. She uses oil paints and pastels to create sensational artworks and has, on occasions, visited our school to show our older students how to do their best still life drawing or even oil painting. One of the messages she conveys is that the first skill necessary in becoming a good artist is to become good at “seeing”. Careful observation is all important. How many different greens and purples would you need to paint these irises? Where are the areas you would need to shade or highlight?
Vincent Van Gogh painted Irises while he was staying in a hospital during a period of depression about a year before he died. Little did he know how much joy his paintings would bring to others in the future.