Iris of Lavender - WIP

I'm currently working on a painting of these lovely blue and blue-lavender iris' that I found at the Garfield Park Conservatory in Chicago in their outdoor gardens. I don't know why I'm so drawn to the bearded iris. Maybe it is all the movement that I find there, the six fabulously ruffled petals that curl ... or maybe it is the dramatically opposed bud before its opened and the spent blossom as it curls within itself. I love all the stages of this flower and have painted it for many years. In painting this piece, I prefer to "ease" into my darks so that I can balance the soft and hard edges. I wan to to punch the deeper, darker values at the end to keep areas clean and crisp. I find when I try to glaze over dark values, the pigment lifts and moves around, clouding up the areas I'm trying to preserve. I believe taking my time layering is important for organic shapes like this one. I want this painting to look as clean up front in person as it does from far away in a digital image.