This Iris carries the name of Beverly Sills, the coloratura soprano known as much for her larger-than-life presence as her voice. I painted it in bold, warm corals and gold against hot, orangey reds, wanting the color itself to carry some of that same performance energy. The purples offer a cooling balance against all that intensity, and the green ground stabilizes it, keeping the energy from running away with itself. I set her against one of the galaxy images NASA posts daily, letting the vastness of the cosmos meet the force I remember feeling in a concert hall decades ago. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only transformed, and I like to think some of what I felt watching her sing is still moving through this canvas.