Story behind the art of Mitsuko Schultz

26th Annual International

American Society of Botanical Artists and Marin Art and Garden Center

Persian Berry Iris

Iris ‘Persian Berry’

In May 2022, I attended a field trip at Greenwood Daylily Gardens in Somis (Southern California). The Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California (BAGSC) organized this event as a part of its 25th Anniversary celebrations. Cynthia Schoustra and her husband John, who own this garden and mainly grow a variety of daylilies and irises, led the tour and presentation.

Unfortunately, the iris blooming season started a little early last year, but we could still see many attractive irises, daylilies, and some other flowers. We enjoyed lunch on a hilltop with spectacular mountain and valley views. Although difficult to choose just one iris, I finally purchased this Persian berry iris (Iris germanica ‘Persian berry’) to paint because I liked its beautiful lavender color.

Iris germanica (Iris x germanica) is a rhizomatous perennial from the Mediterranean region and is commonly known either as bearded iris or German bearded iris. This iris has many thousands of cultivars, with a myriad of colors. The genus name, Iris, is named after the Greek goddess of the rainbow.

The rhizomes of the German iris and sweet iris (Iris pallida) are the source of orris root. Dried orris root is used as a fixative in perfumes, potpourri, and is even added to gin. Orris root is also used medicinally for bad breath, joint pain, wound healing, and numerous other applications of dubious medical or scientific value.

Persian berry iris is a tall bearded iris and is hybridized from pale pinkish Iris ‘Holiday House’ and the Iris ‘Holiday House’ x bluish purple Iris ‘Tiburon’ hybrid by California hybridizer Larry Gaulter. It was introduced by Cooley’s Garden in Oregon in 1977.

I decided to paint this iris as is, without any altering its flower or leaf arrangement. I began by turning the pot around and around until I could find the best viewpoint. Then I held up a cut mat and while imagining this iris on paper I moved the mat first a little this way and then a little that way until I settled on the perspective that would become my composition.

I usually paint only with watercolor but this time I also mixed in a little colored pencil. After recently taking the BAGSC workshop, “Colored Pencil and Watercolor Color Mixed: a workshop with Asuka Hishiki” I thought I’d give the mixture a try. When I first began my exploration of botanical art, I worked only with colored pencil but after switching to watercolor many years ago, I haven’t used color pencil. This mixture of watercolor and colored pencil was very interesting and enjoyable for me and I’m thinking of exploring this mixed technique more in some future paintings.

By nature, I am a very slow painter and I unfortunately didn’t finish this painting in time for inclusion in the BAGSC Fall 2022 Iris exhibition, which was a part of the BAGSC 25th Anniversary celebrations. It was my first time painting iris. I am fascinated by the beauty of so many irises that I am certain I will be painting more of them in the future. 

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Read more about this artist’s work: Abundant Future