Black Iris III 1926

Georgia O’Keeffe’s ‘Black Iris III’ emerges petal by petal in oil paint, a shifting landscape of subtle colour and form. I can just imagine O’Keeffe, leaning in close, trying to see what others might miss. The petals unfurl, and you wonder how the painting itself came into being. The paint is so thin, almost translucent, laid down in delicate layers of blues, whites, greys and browns. They meet and merge. It's a flower, but not really, it’s more like a feeling. The way one petal delicately folds over another, it’s like a secret whispered between the flower and the viewer. It reminds me of other painters, like Agnes Martin, who knew how to make a whole world out of a few simple gestures. That's what painters do; we're all in conversation, sharing ideas, inspiring each other. Painting is such an embodied form of expression, embracing ambiguity and uncertainty, allowing for multiple readings. So, what does this painting mean to you?