About IRIS

In 2009, with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Washington State University in hand, Iris took a year off to paint without distraction. She landed in Southern Taiwan in a small apartment overlooking the sea and settled into her tropical paradise. In fact it was the tropical heat that gave birth to her idea to apply the paint directly to the canvas with her hands.

  

She spent all of her time painting in her air conditioned room, but the sinks for rinsing her brushes were in another non air conditioned area of the building - so she began using her fingertips to apply the oil paint - and remained cool!

     

   

   

  

  

  

HOW IRIS APPROACHES HER WORK 

 

People often ask me how I approach creating an original oil finger painting. Sketching and photography are very key. Sometimes its a photograph that provides the inspiration, and sometimes I just start sketching and develop the composition. In the evenings before painting days I stretch the canvas by hand, cover it with primer, and set it up in the studio for the following morning.

A new painting always begins in the morning with a strong cup of coffee in hand. Like my dentist, I put on my purple latex gloves and get right to work. Before I became a finger-painter, washing brushes was never my strong point, but now changing colors is achieved in seconds! I simply wipe the paint off my fingertips against a coarse paper towel and grab the next color. Holbein Aqua Oils are the richest and most consistently smooth line of paint, and I use them exclusively. Once the painting begins, Pandora radio fills the studio with an eclectic playlist of musicians and bands to energize and inspire. My fingers dance rapidly across the canvas - some say it reminds them of a piano player in action. The colors collide and meld into my composition, raw oils are squeezed straight from the tubes, the texture is thick and juicy. This chaotic scene goes on well into the evening. To stay focused I dance, I sing, I stretch.

Making a painting is like going to war, but the battle is thrilling. Luckily the battle is getting easier to win, my ammunition is growing more advanced and my stamina improving with practice. I keep fantasizing about which finger paintings do not exist yet, someday I will make a painting I love too much to sell. For now...I hope you enjoy! IRIS SCOTT