Upload
others
View
4
Download
0
Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe was born in 1887 in Wisconsin. As a young girl,
Georgia loved the outdoors and spent many hours on the family dairy farm
doing chores. Georgia was not like most girls her age that dressed with
ruffled skirts and spoke with soft voices, but she had lots of friends because
she was loyal and charming. It was not common for women to practice art
as a career during this time. In fact, American women were not allowed to
vote yet. But Georgia grew up thinking differently. In 1901, her family sent
her to a private school where she received her first official art lesson and by
8th grade she decided that she was going to become an artist! Once, in her
high school art class, a teacher brought in a flower to study. As she pulled it
apart, Georgia was so inspired by the deep colors that it influenced her
artwork for many years to come. In 1905, she was the only girl to graduate
from high school with an art major and declared that she was going to give
up everything for art.
When she went college, she discovered that she didn’t like the
tradition of copying from the masters. She wanted to paint her own ideas.
She was encouraged by her teachers to take the best from every style of art
and make it her own. The process of was more important than the picture
itself. She said, “I found that I could say things with color and shapes that I
couldn’t say in any other way—things I had no words for.”
When she was 29 years old, she gave some of her drawings to her
friend in New York. Without permission, Georgia’s friend gave them to a
famous gallery owner and photographer named Alfred Stieglitz. When he
saw her artwork, he exclaimed, “At last, a woman’s feelings on paper!” And
he exhibited them at his gallery. When Georgia found out, she was mad! But
eventually, they became friends and even got married.
While she lived in New York, she began painting abstract, colorful
flowers on large canvases. No one had ever painted like this before.
Wooded country scenes were popular and acceptable during this time. She
also painted the new, bold skyscrapers of New York City. Her paintings
became popular and were quickly sold after each exhibit. She became a part
of a group of artists, known as the Modern Artists, who deliberately
invented a new style of American painting that was completely opposite
from the European traditions.
In 1929, she moved to New Mexico to paint without distractions
from the city. She was enamored by the beauty of the dry, open, desert
landscape and the big, bright, blue skies. She lived on a Ghost Ranch, where
she felt the most at home. She found many animal bones which she painted
into unusual abstract shapes.
Georgia died at 98 years old in 1986. She is the only female artist
who has an entire museum built in her honor, filled with over 2000
paintings, drawings and sculptures that she created during her lifetime. She
is best remembered for being a woman who was true to herself, knew what
she wanted to be and lived a life of artistry.
© Brook Mesenbrink 2017
Georgia O’Keeffe
Materials:
Cardstock paper with petals drawn or photocopied, Liquid acrylic craft paint
in Bright Red and Bright Yellow. Synthetic brushes: 3/8-1/2” (#10-12) with
soft bristles, water bowls, Styrofoam plates, Newspaper, paper towels, dark
brown pencils, crayons or markers (or paint).
Elements of Art:
1. Color: Red, yellow and blue are the primary colors. When the
primary colors are mixed, they make secondary colors orange,
purple and green. When primary and secondary colors are mixed,
they make tertiary colors such as red-orange and blue-green. Warm
colors are red, yellow and orange because they remind us of things
that are warm, like the sunshine. Cool colors are purple, blue and
green because they remind us of things that are cool, like the
ocean. Complimentary colors are opposite each other on the color
wheel, like red and green. When used together, they create a
strong contrast and appear to vibrate. Colors next to each other on
the color wheel are called analogous, such as red, red-orange and
orange, and they have the most appealing combination.
Look at: “Red Poppy”, 1927. Cameras were new tools artists used to capture images at this time.
The subjects of Georgia’s paintings are either very far away or very close up,
like looking through a camera lens and adjusting the distance. The flower is
painted on a large, three foot tall canvas. The viewpoint of this painting is
very close up and magnified, as if the viewer were a tiny insect about to fly
in to gather pollen. Notice that the shapes of the petals are simplified,
natural shapes. The bold, intense colors and values give the appearance of a
velvety soft texture. The crisp edge lines and color contrasts define its
Shape. Georgia explained, “I decided that if I could paint that flower in a
huge scale, you could not ignore its beauty.”
Before she began painting, she primed the canvas extra smooth and
painted with oil by making thousands of tiny, invisible brush strokes.
Art Analysis
Find Color: Describe the color of the petals and notice where the colors
blend together. (red-orange, orange-yellow, warm, tertiary, analogous)
Practice:
Paint and blend colors together smoothly.
1. Draw a quick outline of the petals of “Red Poppy” or photocopy
from the Poppy Template onto cardstock.
2. Observe the colored petals from “Red Poppy”.
3. Choose a petal to start with. Fill in completely with yellow, then add
red and blend them together to make orange. Leave some of the
petal more red-orange and other parts more yellow-orange, just like
O’Keeffe’s painting. Blend the paint to achieve a smooth surface
without brushstrokes.
4. Rinse and dry brush onto a paper towel.
5. Repeat with another petal.
6. Color the center brown after it drys.
7. Option: draw the flower petals extra large on a larger paper or
canvas.
8. Option for younger children: use the simplified Poppy Template
with only 3 petals.
© Brook Mesenbrink 2017
Georgia O’Keeffe
Red Poppy, Georgia O’Keeffe
Georgia O’Keeffe Art Practice Instructions
1. 2.
3. 4.