Bearded Iris, 2025 Middle TN Iris Society Competition 2


Bearded Iris, 2025 Middle TN Iris Society Competition 2
Painting does not include poster rails for hanging. Original signature on back.
Acrylic ink on transparent yupo paper (30”x ~36”).
Material + Process (Transparent Yupo Works)
These works are made on thin, transparent Yupo—a non-absorbent surface where paint does not settle in, but sits on top, moves, and sometimes pools or breaks unpredictably. Droplets, slips, and small imperfections are part of the process, not removed, but left as evidence of how the image formed in real time.
The material holds both control and accident at once. Edges shift, pigment drifts, and marks can feel suspended rather than fixed.
Each piece is hung with poster rails so it remains lightly suspended from the wall. Light passes through the surface, and the work changes depending on what it is seen against—becoming part image, part object, part atmosphere.
Middle Tennessee Iris Society Annual Competition (Madison, TN)
These works come from the annual gathering in Madison, where bearded irises are shown at their most deliberate and rare. I return each year drawn to be “ooh’ed and aah’ed” and take photos for painting inspiration.
They are painted on thin, transparent Yupo, which holds pigment in a way that feels suspended rather than absorbed—so the image can feel like it is breathing through the surface rather than sitting on top of it.