Georgia O'Keeffe is an artist that I admire and am often influenced by her imagery and techniques. I fondly think about a trip that my husband and I took in 2001 to visit Ghost Ranch in New Mexico. It is a beautiful, serene, and awe inspiring place. After Georgia O'Keeffe's visit to New Mexico in 1929, she was so inspired by the landscape and the mountainous forms of the region that she bought a house at Ghost Ranch in 1940 and a home in Abiquiu, New Mexico in 1945. She moved permanently to New Mexico in 1949 after her husband's death.
The seemingly infinite space of the plains and the dazzling colors of the sunlit mountains inspired her large scale, colorful paintings of the natural landscape. Georgia O'Keeffe was always looking and what she saw and how she saw it, was the driving force for her paintings. She was expressing and communicating in the form of her paintings, wanting them to be seen and appreciated.
Every year, The Artists Gallery, my local co-op gallery has an exhibit called "Fabulous Forgeries". For the exhibit, artists are to copy or be inspired by the work of a famous artist. I usually enter this exhibit with my interpretation of a chosen artist. My favorite painting for this exhibit, done several years ago, is entitled, "Georgia On My Mind". It is a copulation of five works of art. One, a photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe, and then O'Keeffe's paintings, Red Amaryllis, Sky Above Clouds, Grey Cross, and New Mexico Landscape make up the finished work . This painting expresses my feelings about O'Keeffe. She said, "To see takes time, like to have a friend takes time." Through the days of the coming year, take time to see the beauty not only in O'Keeffe's work but in the world around you. It will be time well spent.
If you would like more information about Georgia O'Keeffe, visit this Artsy website. There are examples of her paintings and more information about her life on this site.
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