Story behind the art of Dick Rauh

26th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art and Garden Center

Iris Capsules

Iris sp

I am always on the lookout for interesting examples of fruit, to flesh out my proposition that all stages of a plant’s life cycle are worth documenting. Even when, as in this case, I have already painted the loculicidal capsule of an iris. Different species of the same genus are often just as diverse in fruit as the flowers. So, when my son’s wife brought me these capsules from her work as a landscape gardener, I knew I had a possible subject.

But I need an extra push. Usually, it is some texture that provides me inspiration and I spend a good deal of time looking at the specimen, turning it this way and that, throwing a light at it from different directions until I arrive at the eureka moment.

The fruit of an iris is a three-parted capsule that splits in the center of the locule – the cavity containing the seeds. Both the grace of the branched stem and the thread-like apparatus that allowed each segment to separate, but for the moment keep the funnel shape, were the particulars that decided me.

This plant has horticultural value principally for the dramatic stand its flowers make, and like so many of the subjects that appeal to me, once the showy effect of the blossom has faded the remains are headed for the compost pile. My daughter-in-law knows better and rescues them for me and ultimately for you.

Because that’s what it comes down to for me. If I see beauty, symmetry, and order in a brown remnant, I want my painting to make those qualities available for my viewers.

The special challenge of this project was the rendering of the fine threads that tie each carpel wall together. These threads tend to be a lighter color than the surrounding area and that presents me with a choice. I can use white gouache and lay the lines down with a fine brush on top of a completed area or I can lay down a resist directly on my paper over the drawing before I lay in a wash and details of the back area, and then gently rub away the rubbery residue to reveal the white of the paper. I use neither of these techniques. I find the opaque white too grey and not crisp enough, and I have never been able to control the application of the resist to provide the width and delicacy of the line. Even with the relatively large size of the capsules I still enlarged my portrayal of them, and that allowed me to paint around the threads. A tedious and time-consuming process but satisfying.

This piece fits neatly into the body of work I have done for the last 30 years and adds the extra dimension of giving an opportunity to compare two capsules of the same genus – in my earlier work and this one. 

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Read more about this artist’s work: 25th Annual