Georgia O’Keeffe was born in Wisconsin in 1887. She longed to be an artist from an early age. When she was 18 she attended the Art Institute of Chicago and a year later went to study at the Art Students League of New York. She worked briefly as a commercial artist in Chicago before moving to Texas to teach. In 1922, at the age of 35, she married photographer and gallery owner Joseph Steiglitz and she became very famous for her large flower paintings. After her husband died in 1946, she moved to New Mexico to paint the desert scenes. Her fame continued to grow throughout the 1950s and 1960s. In 1971 her eyesight deteriorated dramatically and she couldn’t paint for 3 years. In 1985 she received the Medal of the Arts from President Ronald Reagan. She lived to 98 years old.

The painting Jimson Weed is one of O’keeffe’s most famous paintings, featured here is a small detail to a larger painting. It recently sold at Sotheby’s Auction house for $44.5 million becoming the most expensive artwork painted by a female artist. Here is a link to a larger version original painting.

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I can compose a well proportioned flower by analyzing and identifying the basic shapes of the overall form.

I can create a detailed illustration of a flower by analyzing and identifying the complex elements of shapes within the illustrations of master botanical illustrators.

I can illustrate the colored forms of a flower by applying color gradients to the different parts and pedals.

I can create an image that illustrates the details of different flowers from nature by emulating the painting and gradient techniques of master artists like John Audubon.

I can create different textures on a flower’s form by creating rough and smooth brush strokes when mixing and applying colors.

I can create the texture by examining and identifying the patterns evident in the pedals and leaves.

I can gain familiarity with the flower I am painting by reading information about it, such as its habitat, blooming habits, and its geographic range.

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Flowers

NYC Paintings
Cow Skull Illustration
Landscape
Botanical Illustrations

Flower Illustration 1

Use the images provided to study the structure of O’Keeffe’s paintings. Analyze the way the colors of the petals blend from light to dark within the shape to create the form of the flower. Using the tutorials provided, create one of the flowers from the Georgia O’Keeffe slide show featured above or create the one of the flowers depicted in the tutorials.

Tutorial | Mesh Tool & Distortion

Tutorial | Jimson Weed

Tutorial | Squash Blossom

Flower Illustration 2

Study the three Georgia O’Keeffe paintings below analyzing the composition of the shapes and gradients. What abstract qualities can you see in the paintings, what point of view of the painter creates this ambiguous effect? Look for similarities with the works above while noticing the different effect and point of view. Search for various images of flowers that would suit to create a composition of the flower that would express a similar vein and blend colors with similar texture and form. As you search for images and species of flowers, find distinguishing petal formations that will lend itself to the techniques developed in the previous project.

Pink Peas Blue Abstract Yellow Orchid

Use the Mesh Tool skills you developed in the previous flower project to create an original artwork based on a real flower you find on the internet. Search for a close up view of a favorite flower, it is best if the flower has large or broad shaped petals, flowers such as lilies, tiger lilies, daisies, orchids, tulips, pansies, desert roses, primrose, morning glories, and moon flowers are good flowers to search for.

Link to Slideshow

Tutorial | Mesh Tool & Distortion

Biography Task

Use the links below to gather facts about Georgia Okeeffe that will help you compose a brief biography about the artist. Create a slide in your Google Portfolio that addresses the following questions, work to compose complete sentences from the information you gather, exemplar work would feature the research in at least 2 complete paragraphs.

Art Smart 4 Kids, Georgia O’Keeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, About Georgia O’Keeffe

Georgia O’Keeffe Biography

View the BrainPop video and watch Tim & Moby discuss the life and times of the artist Georgia O’Keeffe, her rise to fame in the NY art scene, her paintings, and her painting style. Use the link below along with the the district’s Username and Password to view the video.

What are the general facts about Georgia O’Keeffe, birth date, birth place, parents and family life?
What information can you find about her childhood? What was she like? What where her interests?
What colleges did the artist attend, when did she attend, what did she study?
What job did the artist have after college, where did she work, what did she do?
Who is Joesph Stieglitz, what did he do for a living, and how did he help Georgia’s career?
Where did Georgia move to after leaving New York?
What was her new environment like, how did it influence her work?
What are some things that inspired the Georgia? Give examples
How would you describe her paintings, how would you describe does her style?
What are the distinguishing characteristics of her artwork?

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New York City Paintings

Compare and Contrast

Cow Skull Illustration

Use the images provided to study the skulls of O’Keeffe’s paintings. Analyze the shapes that make up the skull, using the tutorial provided and your knowledge and skill with the mesh Tools, construct a cow skull by tracing the shapes evident within the overall form.

Cow Skull Paintings

Tutorial | Drawing the Skull

Student Skull Illustration

Landscape Illustration

New Mexico Lanscapes

New Mexico Compare

Analyze the images of Georgia O’Keeffe’s landscape paintings of New Mexico along side actual photographs of the environment there.What similarities can you find between the two? What do you feel captivated Georgia and compelled her to paint these scenes? How is her style from the flower paintings evident in these paintings? How do feel Georgia’s environment effected her work?

What are the different parts of Georgia Okeeffe’s Landscapes?
How are Georgia’s Landscape paintings similar to her flower paintings?
How did the New Mexico environment effect her painting?
What aspects of the desert environment did she use in her painting?
How are her paintings similar to the photos of New Mexico?
What details of the desert was she able to capture in her paintings?
Which do you suppose she enjoyed painting more NY city or the desert?
Why do you assume that position, what evidence do you have?

Tutorial | Illustrating a Landscape

Botanical Illustration

Botanical illustration combines the art of painting subjects like flowers and plants, and the science of botany as the work by John Lindley shows here. Requiring attention to detail, artists render the subject to depict the various parts of the plant. For this layout show the fruit or vegetable you illustrated on a gradient background, use the font Bickham Script Pro to for the text content and labeles to create the elegant typography.