Purple Iris Still Life, oil on canvasboard, 24 x 20, signed lower right: KK Backstrom, Backstrom is known for her Texas landscapes and still life work, and for her technical versatility. She studied under the tutelage of prominent Texas artists, Frank Klepper (American, 1890-1952) and Frank Reaugh (American, 1860-1945). Backstrom lived and worked in Dallas, exhibiting with the Frank Klepper Sketch Club and the Frank Reaugh Art Club throughout the 1940s and -50s. Her charming still life asserts itself as a study of color and composition, creating balance within the scene while considering the shape of the vessel and the reaching of the plants. Still life provides artists with an opportunity to demonstrate technical skill by painting a variety of textures and surfaces. Backstrom’s scene is also largely comprised of variations of white, a notoriously difficult element to work with, when creating naturalistic light and shadow.