GEORGIA ON MY MIND

At the time it seemed to me as though the flower I was painting was the only thing in the world. I didn't think of it as small.

Georgia O'Keefe 1937

I was fortunate enough to see a Georgia O'Keefe exhibit about four years ago while living near Fresno, California. The exhibit was unusual in that the paintings featured, thirty-three of them, were all from private collections. Some of them had never been shown in public before. I wasn't a particularly huge fan of Ms. O'Keefe's work before that day, but I was by the time I left. I spent about three hours there and left with a transformed view of the use of color and scope. I really have not enjoyed painting anything small since!

I painted this over a year ago to go over my mantle with the cow skull I found in my friend Jodi's dumpster...(Uh...if you're done with that could I have it?") It is painted on OSB, the pressed wood product, which is my favorite "canvas" these days. O'Keefe often juxtaposed flowers and bones in her work. My painting is not meant to be a copy, although I did use her 1928 Oriental Poppies as a source of inspiration. I like the way it turned out and I like the feel it gives the room.

My true love is drawing and painting animals, especially the ones with hooves. Horses, cattle, antelope, deer, sheep and goats; I think they are all beautiful and could spend all day looking for pictures of different breeds and species in books or on the internet. I know that might sound a little strange, but just substitute your own passion (jewelry, scrapbooking, golf, etc.) and you can see where I am coming from!

Anyway... I'm thinking about large paintings of animals with a Georgia O'Keefe feeling to them. For now, all I'm doing is thinking; that is, thinking while trying to get completely caught up on projects I should have already finished. I want to begin with a clean slate. Ah.. procrastination.. but that is a whole 'nother post! I don't know if this kind of art would interest anyone or not, but I have learned that trying to create what you think people will want is going about it all backwards; you've got to create what YOU want. Or "I" want, as the case may be! Love, RED