Ghost Ranch Roundup

Ghost Ranch is where Georgia O'Keeffe spent much of her time in New Mexico. You can see it in that video that Katherine linked to the other day. In a book I just finished Georgia said that the backyard there was, in her opinion, the best backyard in the world. (The book was Miss O'Keeffe, written by a former nurse. It's an interesting look at the very end of O'Keeffe's life. It leaves the impression that O'Keeffe was taken advantage of in the end, I don't know if that is true or not, but if so, it's rather sad.)

This post is my roundup for the Georgia O'Keeffe month. First a bit about my choice of final drawing and then a few words about O'Keeffe.

This week I have hardly posted. That's disappointing but it is largely due to my struggle to find something to work on. I've been discouraged with my lack of ability to get ahold of notan, my inexperience with CPs, and just general trouble learning from O'Keeffe. I have learned alot this month, but none of it has really successfully transferred to my own work. So last night I just decided I wasn't leaving the WetCanvas Reference Library until I had something to draw.

I found a photo of a bristlecone pine tree. I was very intrigued by it. Looking at the photo I decided that if notan could be applied to the actual subjects themselves, this tree definitely exemplifies it for me. It has beautiful lines, patterns, harmony, and even goes "flat" the longer you look at it. (Barring all that, it reminded me of Georgia's bone pictures.) I really felt like it was out of my CP range, but I decided to have a go nonetheless. In an attempt to investigate whether I might be wise to make an investment in some drafting film for a CP medium I did this work on tracing paper. I found that I really love CPs on that kind of surface as opposed to paper. It actually felt almost like I was painting!

Now to a few words on O'Keeffe.

Georgia the woman:

• As a person, she is very hard to "get to know." One book I read said that her sister said "Walking with Georgia is like walking alone." There are all sorts of conflicting stories about her life - complicating things even more.
• She spoke her mind and was notoriously difficult to work with. However, the book written by the nurse I mentioned above sheds a little different view. It does appear, at the end of her life, that she could both be gentle and be intimidated into "behaving."

Georgia's art:

• There is much more to O'Keeffe than meets the eye. I think doing some study on the concepts that were important to her increases your appreciation of her.
• Today we see alot of work like hers, in her day, she was more revolutionary.
• She boiled down detail to reveal beauty in her works. This, to some degree, was a problem for me because I like art that complicates something. (I like pen and ink work for this reason.) I like patterns in artwork that cause me to look differently at something.
• On the other hand, as an aspiring portraitist, simplifying, emphasis that reveals something simple and beautiful about a person is a goal worth pursuing.

A Notan Link to Today

Just a quick one tonight. Here's a link I found to a gallery that specializes in Oriental Sumi-e Ink Painting. Notan is then a major emphasis in the work represented there. It is different than O'Keefe - it's all in black ink (done with a brush) and the subject matter varies. It has been a fun perusal for me this evening. I think seeing all those different images and artistic personalities shows me more about notan.

Oh, one guess where the gallery is...

Santa Fe, NM.

Have fun!

In a Georgian Way (sort of)

Georgia O'Keeffe was a master of many things, all of which combined to make her a legend in her own time and beyond. She was a master of the simple (or simplifying), of recognising and capturing beauty, of emphasis, of notan...

I've had a few rounds with flowers this month, but not to great effect. So, I decided to try and move some of her ideas over into my more usual arena - portraits. I knew exactly the expression I wanted to capture. I wanted to convey the pure wonder and joy that my sons have about all that is around them. There is a photo of one of my sons, his head knocked back, with exactly that sort of expression on his face.

And thus above you have my attempt to capture a simple beauty of joy and wonder in an O'Keeffe upclose sort of way. Do you think I captured it?

I have thoughts of working this in colored pencils, as a sort of color theory lesson. We'll see.

Tomato Flower

After doing some reading on notan and the value studies yesterday, I decided to think more before I began these tomatoes. I decided that I liked the juxtaposition of triangles and curves that chopped tomatoes offered. Then I thought "what would it be like if I chose some tomatoes arrayed in a near flower arrangement? Would there be an interesting play between the two concepts?" Obviously, tomatoes are often arranged on a plate in a flower-like way, but I wanted to try something more random seeming.

So that's the background on this piece. I went small this time, 2inx2in, so it wasn't a big investment if things went awry. If I had gone with a more deliberate flower-like arrangement, there would probably have been more play between "that's tomatoes" and "that's a flower." Maybe I'll revisit this idea...I'll be sure to have the camera ready at my next salad chopping session. Certainly the O'Keeffe study this month is causing me to think in new ways.

I again tried new stuff with the CPs. I did try some complementary blending to create depth - that was about the most successful bit of the CP side.

Thanks for bearing with my learning this month. It's making me desperate for some graphite and a portrait!

Georgia O'Keeffe and her Memories

I just finished reading "Some Memories of Drawings" by Georgia O'Keeffe, edited by Doris Bry. There are several plates of charcoal drawings by O'Keeffe with her own commentary. I decided to start with this book because it is small and I thought it might attract me a little more to O'Keeffe.

Here's a site that has a blurb about the book and some images of works in the book.

I'm glad I read the commentary. For one thing, there are some drawings in there that don't, by themselves, grab me. For example, there are a few plates of her "river" drawings (which apparently became paintings). They are from the era when she traveled the world and was viewing rivers cutting across deserts from an airplane. Had I not read this and thus understood the context, I would have said "Dr. Seuss at least told rhyming stories with his pictures of long meandering lines." But, I guess now, I do appreciate more of what she was trying to convey.

The first plate is of a few blue lines, entitled, "Blue Lines." (The first picture here, the work on the right hand wall is Blue Lines.) I was encouraged to read that she did several versions of this in different media and colors before she arrived at the final version. But otherwise, it just didn't speak to me.

On the positive side, she had a drawing of a lady sleeping. (Called Abstraction IX here.)Quick simple lines and shapes. That really interested me. I've always been fascinated with the pursuit of capturing a person in as few quick lines as possible. She did it there, particularly well. Something I hope to practice this month. Hence, the drawing above. It was also partially inspired by her attempt to draw a headache (Plate V Drawing Number 9 here).

There was also a portrait plate. It was realistic in style. (Here's another portrait of the same man by O'Keeffe.) So, she did have talent for realistic work, even if she didn't value it.

And as a parting funny, my little drawing above I did on tracing paper and kept folding new parts over to try and trace the lines better or in a different medium. I had to laugh when I saw this:


So often the person we are most frustrated with is the one in the mirror!