“Trillium”
While most of us haven’t finger painted since childhood, artist Iris Scott elevates this playful, intuitive technique to a refined art form. She’s known for using her fingertips, palette knives, and even air compressors to create expressive impasto paintings that exude texture.
Scott’s latest collection, Frosting Florals, draws inspiration from the delicate art of piping rosettes on cakes. Each whimsical, 12×12-inch oil painting reimagines classic floral bouquets in vases, but with a colorful contemporary twist. Every petal, stem, and leaf is rendered in thick daubs of oil paint and kaleidoscopic swirls of pigment, making them look good enough to eat.
“This collection blends my love for nature and all things sweet,” says Scott. “I imagined delicate petals sculpted like frosting on a cake-lush, colorful, and irresistibly soft.” She adds, “I’ve had so much fun creating these little pieces—there’s something really soothing about the process, just like decorating a cake.”
Scott’s gestural flower paintings go beyond showcasing botanical beauty. In one piece, titled Trillium, she playfully refers to the blooms as “plant spirits,” embodying their longing to escape the confines of their vase. “The vase stands as a captive heart, its ceramic walls trembling with the effervescent riot of stems bursting forth, defying their confines,” Scott explains. “The flowers, like vibrant thoughts breaking free, drift gracefully beside their vessel, petals like bites of frosting.”
A closer look reveals that the flowers in Trillium are actually hovering outside of the vase. Scott says, “The vessel, rooted yet yearning to dissolve, watches its floral inhabitants escape in a playful ballet of nature’s defiance, where the boundaries of containment dissolve into the embrace of open air.”
Check out Scott’s Frosting Florals series below and find more of her impasto paintings on her website and Instagram.
Artist Iris Scott’s latest collection, Frosting Florals, draws inspiration from the delicate art of piping rosettes on cakes.
“Buttery Garland”
Using a large palette knife combined with her signature finger-painting technique, Scott crafted flowers with such rich, creamy textures that they appear almost edible.
“Filet o Floral”
“Coral Charm”
Green Goblin Carnation
“Ceramic Confection”
“Geranium Delerium”
“Gelato Bloom”
“Duchesse de Nemours Peony”
“Black Velvet Petunia”