On January 4^th, 2008, I purchased a calendar. It had different paintings of beautiful flowers such as petunias and lilies as the decorations. I did not know they were all by a particular artist until I started researching different painting styles for this assignment. I soon found that the artist that I really enjoyed and wanted to spotlight also completed all the paintings on my calendar.

The painting that I want to spotlight is called Petunia, 1925. It is actually the January picture in my calendar. It was created by an American artist named Georgia O’Keeffee. This painting is located in the Georgia O’Keeffer museum in New Mexico. It is one of the permanent exhibits in the museum.

Mrs. O’Keeffee was born November 25, 1887 immigrant farmers in Wisconsin. Female children in her family were well educated and received fine education for that time’s standards. She was quoted as saying she knew from an early age she was going to be an artist, but was not sure why. Her earliest memory was watching light on the walls of her crib as an infant. She may have been inspired by this natural wonder.

She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago (1904–05) and the Art Students League of New York (1907–08). She came into contact with modern developments in art and non-western traditions in her studies. She was unhappy with her progress so she got a job as a commercial artist. She then taught art at various schools and colleges in Texas and other Southern states from 1912 to 1916. She attended a workshop where Arthur Wesley Dow encouraged artists to examine the contrasts of light and dark. He had her examine a lot of oriental art and reexamining what she knew and “felt deep down” about art. Dow's teaching strongly influenced O'Keeffe's thinking about the process of making art and helped her restart her passion. She met her future husband at his gallery, who was her biggest supporter and advocate. When he saw her work, her future husband, Alfred Stieglitz, exclaimed, "At last! A woman on paper. ".

Georgia O’Keeffe is famous for her up-close charcoals, watercolors and pastels, with flowers, clouds, detailed landscapes, plant organs, shells, rocks, mountains, and animal bones, but she also kept sketchbooks, drew tiny line drawings, and completely abstract late watercolors. She also dabbled in pottery later in life. Some describe her earliest works have been described as imitative with her own style emerging quickly. She painted into her eighties. She passed away in New Mexico at the age of 99. Many people may wonder what her effect was on the art world.

At first glance, this painting just looks like a purple flower with a white background and it is. However, there are more profound ideas in it just being a flower. She has been quoted as saying that she wanted to make people stop and look at common objects such as flowers. One of Georgia’s friends, Anita Paulitzer, summed it up best in a letter stating, “,To live on paper what we're living in our hearts and heads and all the exquisite lines and good spaces and rippingly good colors are only a way of getting rid of these feelings and making them tangible.”

This painting is of a deep soft purple flower. It almost looks like it is made of velvet plum. There is a delicate nature to it, like it is fragile, but with a strong presence. It is very large for the white round vase that it sits in. The background is of a gathered white sheet with the right bottom corner exposing the light Russian blue stand or table beneath. The sheet drapes behind the vase making wrinkles and gathers. There are shadows and shading to show that there is some illumination on the flower. The blossom is fully open and vibrant; there are no signs of wilting or disease. It is placed in the middle of the painting to show its dominance and significance. It has a simplistic nature, but can be prolific to the beholder. It is easy for most people to identify with this flower and its beauty. Even people that have not seen a petunia can identify with the flower’s beauty.

The lines in this painting are soft and delicate. They are not meant to jump out at the beholder, but rather blend to exude a sense of femininity and grace. The color shading together with the shapes and soft lines creates a sense of elegance and purity. The use of color is obviously meaningful as the flower is accurately depicted and copies the beauty of an actual petunia. The flower seems to be the focal point, the flower by placing it in the center and duplicating the actual flower’s color explosion and shape by using the soft white and grey background and bright purple and blues. Her mysteriously suggestive images of bones and flowers in some of her paintings set against an n empty space have created allegations of erotic, psychological, and symbolic meanings. She did not respond to these allegations.

I find this picture appealing on a lot of levels. First of all, I like the simplistic nature of the subject. It is not too crowded or overbearing on the eye. Your eye is immediately drawn to the flower which has beautiful detailing and colors. It is part of nature’s beauty which is underappreciated. I think it is smoothing to look at objects that are not too overbearing to think about or examine. It is nice to look at something soothing and relaxing. This flower reminds me of my grandparents’ huge flower garden that I used to run through as a child. I would walk around with my grandparents and pick flowers to make a fresh bouquet for the kitchen table. It reminds me of the morning dew, how happy I was to walk in the squishy soil, and watch out for the bees that would often rest in the flowers. I would pick out the flowers that I liked which were often soft purple and pink much like the one in the painting and take my time arranging them perfectly in the vase. The power of art and the relationships that it has with people’s personalities and personal histories is amazing.

I chose this piece because of its appeal. I enjoy pictures of nature probably because I have lived in the country and enjoy natural beauty. It is important to appreciate the world around us and our daily blessings as much as possible. I think Georgia O’Keeffe felt the same way by examining her work, looking at her biography, and reading her quotes. She was a woman trying to help people examine their lives, the beauty around them, and stop to appreciate what was around them in their daily life.

She played an important role in American history. She was a major artist in a time when women were not usually educated or accepted as professionals. A lot of her work is signed OK instead of Georgia O’Keeffe. Her husband was impressed with her work as a lot of men did not think women were capable of the work she produced. She was a role model for many women. She was often very independent and a free thinker in the sense that she loved and lived with a married man and never had children when a time when this was highly frowned upon. Although I would not condone her behavior, it is not something I want my daughter to take part of, but her independent spirit and heart is impressive. One of my wishes for my daughter is for her to appreciate what GOD gave her and to stop and really look at the beauty around her. This is something that Georgia O’Keeffer can teach the future generations. I am glad that I have twelve pictures in my “personal collection” in my calendar to enjoy.