Iris

I love irises. They are probably about my favorite flower. There are all kinds of symbolic and theological reasons I like them (three petals like the Trinity, purple a royal color, Iris in Greek mythology, etc.), but the bottom line is they are just plain beautiful, and I love purple. Here's a photo I took of an iris down in New Zealand which I've Photoshopped a bit to simplify and colorize the background. If you think that's cheating, then so is painting. I'm just using different tools to create the look I want.