IRISES

Yuppers, we are the proud owners of a percolator coffee pot.  It's not nice to say this, but Mr. Coffee's demise was to my advantage.  It's been a fact for years that I dislike the coffee pots on sale for $9.  My argument was you get what you pay for.  Well, it took years, but finally the boyfriend suggested we get a percolator.  Well, I'm here waving my checkered flag.  I'm sipping the first cuppa, and it's full flavored and doesn't taste like fairy pee.

On we go into another unread page in our life book.  Wonder what My Maker has in store.  I've been distracted by the little fuzz bucket and haven't accomplished anything productive.  Seems I grow less and less interested in doing things I don't feel like doing.  Now I understand what it's like being a teenager.  All I want to do is fiddle faddle around on my laptop.  If My Maker wants to take me back to my childhood, well, then I'll act like one.  Some days I'm not impressed with the surprise script that He has written for me anyway.  Enuf chirping.  

Irises - 1889

Iris flowers were a favorite among Japanese artists, and Van Gogh was greatly influenced by them.  Vincent started painting irises within a month of entering the mental hospital in May of 1889, where he was allowed to stroll and sit in the flower garden.  To Van Gogh, the hospital was also his monastery and studio.  He gladly opted for the isolation.  That's exactly what he wanted...somewhere he could be by himself and concentrate on his painting.  Spending time in his own room, or cell, was an aid to his artistic creativity.  His bouts with mental instability reinforced his resolve to turn his back on the world.  He called painting "the lightning conductor for my illness."  So long as he maintained his ability to paint, he felt sure that he was not really a madman. 

• "Irises" held the record for most expensive piece of artwork in 1987, when it sold for $53.9 million, which would be about $100 million in today's economy.
• The painting was among nearly 130 artworks Van Gogh completed during his stay in a mental institution at Saint-Remy in southern France, the year prior to his death.

Each iris petal in the "Irises" painting is unique, featuring different shading, shape and size.  Only one blossom is a completely different color--white.  Might that one different flower represent Vincent?  He must've felt that he was different from the rest of society, especially while he was institutionalized.  Is it possible that these irises represent people looking at each other, talking, arguing, waving hands, excited?  And he is an outcast?

Notice that the close-up view of the flowers doesn't include the sky, and the way the flowers flow right off the edges of the canvas.  He brings the viewer face to face with the irises.  See the yellow dabs of paint in the background showing there are other kinds of flowers in the garden, but it was the irises he showcased.

We'll see more iris paintings by Van Gogh.🖌