Blue Beauty

7.25″ x 10.5″

I’ve been going through some older paintings and studies that I have done over the years and came across this little beauty, which I named Blue Beauty.

I did this painting years ago for the National Iris Convention held in Victoria, BC. I was asked to participate as an artist at this convention and since irises hold a special memory for me, I chose to be a part of the convention.

Irises are special to me because they were my grandmother’s favorite flower. She took real pleasure from her garden and I always enjoyed rambling through the one she had at her house. Towards the end of her life, my grandmother had to move in with my parents, giving up the garden she had worked on for so many years. At this time I was attending university and I enjoyed being able to visit her whenever I went home for a visit. We would watch old movies like Gone With the Wind and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and on Saturday nights, the Lawrence Welk Show.

My grandmother passed away while I was in my third year of university. It was New Year’s Eve and she had survived cancer but died from an infection she received at the hospital. It was sad to have her go that way. 

She must have known she would not survive the winter though. For the next spring, an amazing thing began to happen in my mother’s garden. Over a hundred iris plants began to bloom all over the yard. All different colors and varieties. I remember going home and seeing all these amazing plants in the yard and asking my mother about them. My mother was amazed also for she had no idea that her mother had planted so many of them. It was a beautiful reminder of a beautiful person. 

So whenever I see an iris, I think of my grandmother and the message she sent that she is still there, watching over us. And each iris that I paint, is a tribute to my grandmother.