STORY BEHIND THE ART OF JEAN EMMONS

25th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Wave Hill

Full Tilt Boogie Iris

Iris 'Full Tilt Boogie'

People ask me, ‘How do you see all those colors?’

Like starting to forage for mushrooms, or beginning to become a birdwatcher, once you learn to look for something, whether it be mushrooms, birds, or color, you can’t stop. Like riding a bike or swimming, the skill stays with you.

An important key to this is to work from life. Yes, an artist should use any tools available, and I certainly do. But it’s important to remember that using photography is looking through the filter of another medium—a medium that interprets information and freezes it in specific ways. This is great when trying to capture detail, but it limits other information. Photography doesn’t give me enough.

For inspiration, there is nothing better than a live subject. It’s more than just painting the subject, it’s the air around the subject, the changing light, the time of day, the humidity, the breeze.

I always start with life. Those first couple of days with an iris are magic. Irises offer a smorgasbord of color and texture. The velvet of the falls, the iridescence of the standards, the bottlebrush of the beards. My whole studio smells like concord grapes.

I follow the light bouncing around within a very sculptural form. I stare and stare and see all kinds of color. Time passes, it’s just me and the plant, and the world falls away.

Even when going over, an iris is still beautiful, like a fading vintage party dress. Still lots to see.

When my subject is gone, I turn to photography as a memory aid to finish up. So many happy memories!

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Read more about this artist's work: 24th Annual