Irises are among the most popular garden perennials, and the wild irises–commonly called Blue Flag–are no less beautiful; even a touch more elegant, to my way of thinking, with their clean lines and lack of over-bred frills and beards.

In college painting, our first project was to do a color pencil drawing (or painting, by my professor’s definition) of a flower, and I chose Blue Flag. I was quite proud of it at the time, having never pulled such colors out of color pencils before, or so smoothly; I still like that drawing, though I have improved significantly since then. These irises were done after significantly more practice with the medium, and they are among my favorite wildflower drawings.