"Rainbow Iris," watercolor © Judy Lavoie
  • MEDIUM:  Watercolor on Aquabord™ with Scratching
  • SIZE: 8" x 8"
  • STATUS: For sale, $325 framed in a black Ampersand Floater Frame

"My gorgeous flowering bearded irises inspired this painting, painted immediately after and as a variation to "Iris Glow." It is painted with a limited palette of just the primary colors, red, yellow and blue. They were applied to mix randomly on the 8" white Aquabord* panel and then I added and subtracted paint to sculpt the iris and bud images.

The border stripes were created as my modern version of "French matting," a traditional decorative application of fine lines and marbled papers in the border of a matboard opening. It is a technique used over centuries for exquisitely enhancing the matting of botanical paintings, old master's drawings and other artwork."

This painting is framed in a "floater frame" which allows the entire painting to be seen, none of it covered by matting or framing.