Georgia O'Keeffe, catalogue raisonne

Several years ago, like close to seven, I read Full Bloom,a wonderful biography about Georgia O'Keeffe. For several months after finishing the book I was mesmerized by how prolific, how dedicated, and how determined she was to become an accomplished artist.

Then in 2010 the Phillips Collection had a wonderful exhibition that focused on her abstractions. Again I came away from the experience of seeing the exhibit with awe and wonder.

As an artist myself, I tried to view the exhibition as an admirer and also as a technician, disecting how she applied paint and worked. Though I do not paint many abstract compositions, I admire her skill in compositions and I own two books that focus on the compositional concept notan that was so important in Georgia O'Keeffe's work, they are:

. Notan . Composition by Arthur W. Dow

Sometimes I will flip through the pages of these books to get ideas and to learn a bit more about compositional design. And when I am really stumped about coming up with some painting ideas I will flip through the catalogue raisonne of Georgia O'Keeffe's works.

Here are a few spreads I photographed to share with you today.

Georgia O'Keeffe : Catalogue Raisonne And I thought I would leave you with a few of my favorite quotes by Georgia O'Keeffe

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way - things I had no words for. "

"Objective painting is not good painting unless it is good in the abstract sense. A hill or tree cannot make a good painting just because it is a hill or tree. It is lines and colors put together so that they may say something."

“Whether you succeed or not is irrelevant, there is no such thing. Making your unknown known is the important thing.”

The last quote is my favorite, and really sums up the drive of why I paint, the journey of art making is the most important.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend, Liz