"Iris" is acrylic on canvas, 48x60."  This was a spontaneous piece.  In December, I had made a flower arrangement for my kitchen using white calla lilies, purple alstroemeria, and a cobalt blue glass vase.  The drama and rich color combination inspired me, and I came into work simply having to capture it somehow.  Here is a photo of the arrangement.

I mixed up my colors based on the flower arrangement.  I find with pours, the more limited the palette the better.  Too many different colors will fight and ultimately become muddy.

I laid down the pour, which initially looked like this.  I knew it might change a lot through the drying process, and I would have to wait until the next day to see what I really had to work with.

This is what it looked like the next day, not too different from how it began.

I had established color.  The next step was to create the botanical shapes.  I really enjoy rendering by using masks to create negative shapes (the spaces between objects).  I used my original photograph of the flower arrangement to guide me as I cut in those shapes.  Carefully the piece started to take on its leaves, stems, and petals.  For the mask, I chose a range of soft greens.  I know there were no irises in the inspirational arrangement, but for me, the painting itself took on the qualities of an iris.