Iris Grace Painting & Friends

July 19, 20252 Comments

This week we have launched the ‘Iris Grace Painting & Friends’ Subscription Group on facebook.

For all art and animal lovers

We’re thrilled to have created this community that will be filled with creativity and inspiration. Once you have joined you’ll gain exclusive access to behind-the-scenes content, sneak peeks of upcoming artwork, discounts on prints and special insights into the unique painting process of Iris Grace.

Along with pictures and videos of Thula and the other animals, life at home and our adventures.

What to Expect:

– Exclusive updates and previews of new artwork

– Community discussions and art challenges

– Share your own artwork with the community

– Techniques from Iris Grace

It is a safe space to introduce yourself, share your art, chat and ask any questions. We will celebrate the beauty of art together and the benefits of spending time with our animal friends.

To join click here – https://www.facebook.com/groups/4172073143039829/

Journey Through The Dreamscape

April 18, 2025Leave a comment

Iris’s latest painting ‘Journey Through The Dreamscape’ is available to order as a giclee print or the Original, please email Arabella at irisgracepainting@yahoo.com to find out more.

Print Size and Price

Prints are the same size as the Original: 55cm x 75cm (21.65 inches x 29.52 inches) – £170.00

Shipping

All print orders are shipped using tracked and signed delivery with Royal Mail.

For the United Kingdom we have a flat rate of £14.00 covering postage, packing and insurance.

For the Rest of the World we use the following rates to cover postage, packing and insurance:

Orders up to £275: £30.00

Orders above £275: £70.00

Shorelines Edge

November 21, 2024March 26, 2025Leave a comment

Shorelines Edge – Acrylics and watercolours on watercolour paper 55cm x 75cm

(21.65inches x 29.52inches)

Example of Shorelines Edge mounted and framed.

Iris’s new painting is available to buy as a giclee print or the original. To order a print please email Arabella at irisgracepainting@yahoo.com

Using extremely ‘high end’ scan-back camera technology and daylight balanced lighting, we are able to create an incredibly accurate and detailed digital image from Iris’s Original Paintings. Our colour management ensures consistency and guarantees the highest standards and quality of image.

With the very latest in art printing technology with fully calibrated photo-scanning, processing and printing equipment, we pay fastidious attention to colour balancing to ensure extremely accurate reproduction.

The word Giclée (“g-clay”), is derived from the French verb gicler meaning “to squirt or spray”, Giclée, is used to describe a fine art digital printing process combining pigment based inks with high quality archival quality paper (Hahnemühle German Etching, 310 gsm) to achieve Giclée prints of superior archival quality, light fastness and stability.

If you would like more details about the original painting please email Arabella at irisgracepainting@yahoo.com

The Therapeutic Power of Art: Understanding the Role of Colour

August 15, 2024March 26, 2025Leave a comment

Art Therapy

Did you know that creating art can reduce stress by 75% and by simply looking and appreciating art it can be reduced by 65%. To understand the therapeutic power of art it’s important to know what happens in our brains . When we look at art or create it a feel good hormone called dopamine is released making art a therapeutic activity. The ideal pick me up with no side effects so you can unwind and recharge at the same time.

Understanding the role of Colour

Let’s think about what colour means to you, I know I can feel the impact from it and I see it happen with Iris too, but what makes that happen? Is it simply the impact of different colour tones or is it shapes, forms, the subject matter itself? I suppose each experience will be unique. We know that producing art activates the parts of the brain that controls emotions, it helps lower cortisol levels (the stress hormone) and it promotes relaxation. It can build confidence, take you away from everyday worries and give opportunities for exploration.

Healing with Art

Lately Iris has been working on a very personal piece of art for her bedroom that celebrates Luna’s life. Luna was her special therapy rabbit and she left a huge hole in our lives when she past away and so we turned to Iris’s art to heal from this loss. The painting ‘Luna’ is filled with soothing blues, purples, some green and silver and white tones. Moon like landscapes and silhouette rabbits fill the massive sheet of paper. The painting can be viewed from all angles with rabbits hidden in the landscape. It means then when she looks up at it from a lying down position in bed it becomes a playful game of spotting Luna, adding a playful element into her art. The process of painting it gave Iris great comfort and channeled her focus into something positive.

What do you feel when you look at different colours?

When we look at different colours, they can evoke a range of emotions and associations. Each one has its own unique meaning and can have a powerful impact on our mood and feelings. Let’s explore the meanings behind some of the most common colours we see in our everyday lives.

Red

Red is the first colour that humans mastered, fabricated, reproduced, and broke down into different shades. It is also one of the earliest colors used by artists during the prehistoric period.

The colour red is often associated with

passion
love
energy
danger
power
strength

Red is a bold and vibrant color that can evoke feelings of excitement and intensity. In Iris’s painting ‘Dance to the Oboe’ it demonstrates just this by the way it makes you feel, it grabs your attention right from the first moment. It is an abstract painting, the waves and intricate details are full of energy and the red tones in the top section provides impact. Iris painted this after she attended a music concert where she was extremely excited and needed to release that energy when she came home.

Blue

Blue is often seen as a calming and soothing color.

It is associated with

peace
tranquility
stability
trust
loyalty
wisdom.

Blue was first produced by the ancient Egyptians for the decorative arts and it is rated as the most popular colour around the world. Many people find blue to be a comforting and relaxing color and it’s perfect for a calm interior of your home.

Green

Green is the second most favourite colour and is often associated with

nature
growth
harmony
renewal
freshness
fertility

Green is a color that is often used to represent health, balance, and prosperity.

Yellow

Yellow is a bright and cheerful color that is often associated with

happiness
optimism
creativity
warmth
energy
positivity

Yellow is a color that can help lift our spirits and bring a sense of joy to our lives. It is present in some of the oldest paintings dating back to ancient Egypt and ancient Rome. Yellow can even be found as far back as prehistoric times featured in cave paintings. The yellow sun has been worshipped by countless religions with numerous sun gods wearing yellow as representations of it. Associations with sunlight has meant it is often seen as a warm colour, accounting for the connotations with happiness.

Purple

Purple is often seen as a colour of royalty, luxury, and sophistication. It can also symbolize

spirituality
creativity
mystery

Purple is a colour that is often associated with creativity and imagination by awakening our senses and promoting the calmness needed for insightful and intuitive observations. Purple creates a harmonious balance of awareness and peace.

Orange

Orange is a vibrant and energetic colour that is often associated with

enthusiasm
warmth
creativity

It can also symbolize excitement, joy, and adventure. Orange is a colour that can help inspire and motivate us to take action.

White

White is a colour that is often associated with

purity
innocence
simplicity

It can also represent cleanliness, peace, and new beginnings. White is a colour that can help create a sense of calm and clarity.

These are just a few examples of the meanings behind different colours. The next time you see a certain colour, take a moment to think about how it makes you feel and what associations it brings to mind.

We are surrounded by colour all the time, but its significance in our lives goes far beyond simple aesthetic impressions. It has practical applications that help us navigate our environment and our emotions. I would like to encourage all of you to consider this while choosing your Iris Grace Print, it may help to factor in what impact you would like from the painting when it’s hanging in your home. Would you like it to inspire and invigorate? Or to soothe your senses and calm your mind? Take a look at some of her collection and see how you feel as you view each painting.

Somatic Therapy Exercises for Stress Reduction and Body Awareness

May 17, 2024May 17, 20246 Comments

Are you looking to release stress in your body? Our dynamic duo Iris & Thula highly recommend incorporating some somatic therapy exercises into your daily routine. Somatic therapy focuses on the mind-body connection, helping you become more in tune with your physical sensations and emotions.

Here are some examples

Deep breathing
Relaxation exercises
Meditation
Dance
Art & Music
Exercise
Yoga
Vocal work

Somatic therapy offers a wide range of benefits:

1. Stress Reduction: helping to release tension and stress stored in the body, promoting relaxation and a sense of calm.

2. Improved Mind-Body Connection: By focusing on physical sensations and emotions, somatic therapy can help individuals become more in tune with their bodies and better understand the connection between physical and emotional health.

3. Increased Body Awareness: Somatic therapy can help individuals become more aware of their body’s signals and cues, allowing them to better respond to their needs and take care of themselves.

4. Enhanced Emotional Regulation: By addressing both physical and emotional aspects, somatic therapy can help individuals regulate their emotions and cope with stress more effectively.

5. Pain Management: Somatic therapy techniques, such as relaxation exercises and body awareness practices, can help individuals manage pain and improve their overall physical comfort.

Here are Iris & Thula’s top 10

Creative Expression

Find a place where you feel happy, comfy and at home.

Surround yourself with art supplies and musical instruments.

Choose a medium that feels right for you in the moment and let your feelings guide you. Be fluid and not consumed by the end result, use the activity as a way to process, to calm, and build on your self awareness. Use your voice too, sing, hum, be free to express your creativity in any form you like.

Sensory Awareness

Play, touch, smell and fully engage with different textures and objects.

Focus on the sensations of each texture and how it makes you feel. This will enhance being in the moment and sensory connection.

Finger Count/Hold Practice

Sit or stand in a relaxed position, use your thumb to touch each finger and count as you go.

Once relaxed hold in one position and breath deeply and evenly. Focus on the sensations in your thumbs. Then move onto the next finger. Each finger corresponds to a different emotion.

Breath Focus

Sit or lie in a comfortable position.

Focus on your breath.

Feel your chest rise and fall and the sensation of the air. If your mind starts to think about other things bring it back to your breath. This will help to reduce stress and improve concentration.

Barefoot Walking

Feel the textures beneath your feet and notice the connection between your body and the earth.

Bare foot walking will improve your balance, proprioception, and body awareness. You will experience increased spacial awareness and grounding by feeling the earth.

Vocal Humming & Toning

Let the humming sound resonate from your voice (or purr), feel the vibration through your body.

Experiment with the different tones and concentrate on the sensation. What feels soothing to you?

Water Sensory

Spend some time with water, (doesn’t have to be in the bath tub) it can be at the sink. Run your hands under the water, notice the temperature and sensations.

Listen to the water and connect with the sound and the feeling of it on your skin.

Slow deep breaths, imagine the water washing away the stress.

Hug A Tree

Find a tree and wrap your arms around it, Iris suggests keeping your feet on the ground, Thula doesn’t agree.

Feel the solidness and stability of the tree. Allow the tree to support you. Feel your stess melt away and your cortisol levels dropping.

Free Form Dance & Movement

Choose some music that echoes your emotions.

Allow your body to move freely, express those feelings through your dance moves.

Follow your natural rhythm.

Swinging & Rocking

Allow yourself to swing gently, feel the motion soothe your body. Slowly rock your body back and forth, focus on the rhythmic motion and the sensations it creates.

I See The Moon Giclee Print

May 2, 2024March 26, 2025Leave a comment

‘I See The Moon’ Giclee Print & Original Painting

Beautifully painted onto canvas board with acrylics and chalk 50cm x 50cm. Iris has named this piece after one of her favourite poems ‘I See The Moon’.

BUYING IRIS’S ARTWORK

To find out details about the Original painting of ‘I See The Moon’ which is available email Arabella at irisgracepainting@yahoo.com

To order a print please email Arabella at irisgracepainting@yahoo.com

Shipping

All print orders are shipped using tracked and signed delivery with Royal Mail. Iris’s Original paintings are packed in their own wooden crates and shipped via Pack & Send.

Review us on Google

April 12, 2024April 12, 20242 Comments

Just a quick post to ask those of you who have bought any of Iris’s products over the years if you would be willing to spare a few moments leave a google review.

Here is the link – https://g.page/r/CYhNvZMFCemAEAI/review

We really appreciate it, thankyou so much.

‘Equinox’ a painting by Iris Grace

April 11, 2024March 26, 2025Leave a comment

The Equinox Fire Circle

‘Equinox’, painted in the week after we attended the Spring Equinox Fire Circle at the Roundhouse Haven in Stoke Albany. We hadn’t been there before or attended an event like this so I was very interested to see what it was like.

Andrea was our host. We have worked alongside her for our ‘Emotions in Motion’ workshops at The Little Explorers Activity Club and Iris was keen to hear her voice again and her drum. It was a great evening around the fire singing songs to celebrate life and the longer days. While we all sang I noticed Iris’s nervous cough that had developed last month disappeared. Her concentration and mind was focused on her breathing, the beat and voice.

Many would think it seems an odd activity for a person who struggles with speech but music somehow makes those pathways free. There wasn’t a set structure apart from the warm up where we connected to the energy points in our body, referred to as Chakras. Mostly it was about freeing your voice and feeling the sounds and moving with it.

The experience has opened up new ideas in my mind about how to use our voices and acoustic healing, how we can integrate it within our days to calm Iris’s nervous system. To me it feels like it can be something to help re-balance, to release tension and to energise.

Giclee Prints by Iris Grace

Here is an example of ‘Equinox’ mounted and framed.

We also have the Original for sale so please do get in touch if you would like info on price and delivery. Email – irisgracepainting@yahoo.com

The Market Harborough Artist – Floating in the Midnight Sky

March 20, 2024March 31, 20241 Comment

This weeks painting from our Market Harborough Artist is ‘Floating in the Midnight Sky’ painted onto canvas board with acrylics and chalk. 40cm x 40cm

Buying Iris’s Artwork

To find out details about the Original painting which is available or to order a giclee print please email Arabella at irisgracepainting@yahoo.com

Shipping

All print orders are shipped using tracked and signed delivery with Royal Mail. Iris’s Original paintings are packed in their own wooden crates and shipped via Pack & Send.

For the United Kingdom we have a flat rate of £14.00 covering postage, packing and insurance.

For the Rest of the World we use the following rate to cover postage, packing and insurance:

Orders up to £275: £30.00

Market Harborough Artist

Iris painting ‘Floating in the Midnight Sky’ with Thula by her side. We are very lucky to have such beautiful light in the garden room and it has become the perfect place for Iris to paint in our home near Market Harborough, Leicestershire. The picture below is an example of the painting mounted and framed. I love the soft pastels, it almost feels like lavender granite to me, like a mixture of smells, a touch of stone but with the fluid nature of water or a landscape seen from above. I can even see the movement of sand falling or dust in the air. Maybe it’s because I see what intrigues her, what delights and takes her attention into far away places. Sometimes I wonder what others can see. For everyone it’s a different experience.

Being a young Painter

March 8, 2024April 3, 20242 Comments

One of the advantages I feel of discovering a love for art when you are young is that there are no boundaries, it’s all about fun, exploring textures and colour. How different materials react. As a young painter Iris isn’t set or fixed into a particular way of doing things and it is about the experience of doing that is therapeutic.

Here is her latest painting, ‘Over the mountains, over the sea’ painted onto canvas board with acrylics. 40cm x 40cm

This one reminds me of the Post-Impressionist painter Vincent van Gogh with it’s contrasting tones and dreamlike movement. I love how her artwork is developing and changing as she experiments and we see new ideas from this young painter.

To find out details about the Original painting which is available please email Arabella at irisgracepainting@yahoo.com or to see what other paintings are available click here

Getting your mind’s eye in the groove

February 1, 2022Leave a comment

Sometimes it can be difficult to imagine what a piece of artwork will look like once it’s mounted and framed up on the wall. Would it be best positioned above a mantlepiece or your office desk? Maybe in the kitchen or living room? Iris and I have created some mock-ups for you to see, examples of her work in interiors to get your mind’s eye in the groove so you can easily start to picture her framed pieces up in your own home.

Prints are available to buy from her online shop in a variation of sizes – https://www.irisgracepaintingshop.com/collections/all

Giclee Printing

Using extremely ‘high end’ scan-back camera technology and daylight balanced lighting, we are able to create an incredibly accurate and detailed digital image from Iris’s Original Paintings.

Our colour management ensures consistency and guarantees the highest standards and quality of image. With the very latest in art printing technology with fully calibrated photo-scanning, processing and printing equipment, we pay fastidious attention to colour balancing to ensure extremely accurate reproduction.

Profits from the sales of her art go towards her therapies, education and future.

Market Harborough Art

February 1, 2022April 4, 2024Leave a comment

Artwork mounted and framed by Iris Grace

Art made in Market Harborough, displayed online

Sometimes it can be difficult to imagine what a piece of artwork will look like once it’s mounted and framed up on the wall. Especially when looking at the images of the paintings online. Iris’s art is all painted at home in East Farndon close to Market Harborough but we display her work on her website & online shop.

See Iris’s paintings from anywhere in the world not just in Market Harborough

This gives anyone from any location at any time the chance to view her collection. We do understand that it can be hard to work out if it would be best positioned above a mantlepiece or your office desk? Maybe in the kitchen or living room?

So Iris and I have created some mock-ups for you to see, examples of her work in interiors to get your mind’s eye in the groove so you can easily start to picture her framed pieces up in your own home.

Picture the paintings in your own home

Prints are available to buy from her online shop.

Giclee Printing

Using extremely ‘high end’ scan-back camera technology and daylight balanced lighting, we are able to create an incredibly accurate and detailed digital image from Iris’s Original Paintings.

Using extremely ‘high end’ scan-back camera technology and daylight balanced lighting, we are able to create an incredibly accurate and detailed digital image. Our colour management ensures consistency and guarantees the highest standards and quality of image.

We pay fastidious attention to colour balancing to ensure extremely accurate reproduction. With the very latest in art printing technology with fully calibrated photo-scanning, processing and printing equipment.

The word Giclée (“g-clay”), is derived from the French verb gicler meaning “to squirt or spray”. Giclée, is used to describe a fine art digital printing process combining pigment based inks with high quality archival quality paper (Hahnemühle German Etching, 310 gsm) to achieve Giclée prints of superior archival quality, light fastness and stability.

Profits from the sales of her art go towards her therapies, education and future.