The Art of Play
August 28, 2026
Artist: Georgia O'Keeffe - Flowers
Join Zoom Meeting / Class
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87618016665
“I found that I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn’t say in any other way things that I had no words for.”
Georgia O’Keeffe
Photograph by Tony Vaccaro / Getty
Georgia O'Keeffe’s large-scale flower paintings are iconic masterpieces of 20th-century American modernism. Begun in the 1920s, these works zoom in closely on ordinary blossoms, magnifying their delicate petals, stamens, and pistils to monumental sizes. Her intention was to compel busy city dwellers to slow down and truly experience the intricate beauty of nature.
Warm-up + Project
"Paint it big, and they will be surprised into taking time to look at it—I will make even busy New Yorkers take time to see what I see of flowers.” —Georgia O'Keeffe
I would like us to take a look at Georgia O'Keeffe’s flower paintings this week. Let's consider how we might bring our own style, techniques, and chosen medium to create a "close-up and personal" image of a flower.
Idea starters for creating work focusing on a close-up of a flower:
realism
abstract
black and white, gray tones only
collage
3-dimensional
rich, thick colors and textures
Minimalism (a line drawing with suggested details)
perhaps play with "outside of the box" ideas
Please choose a flower from the flowers and plants link below.
After choosing your flower picture, we will loosely draw it before we begin filling it in with color.
Suggested materials:
white bristol board
oil pastels
paint sticks
watercolors
Posca markers
There is no wrong approach. Let's play in the flowers!
Including a link to this 2-hour documentary if you have any interest in viewing. It is available to rent or perhaps free if you subscribe to one of the channels it is offered on.
Flower Abstraction - 1924 | Oil on canvas | 48 1/8 × 30 in
Single Lily with Red, 1928
The Black Iris, 1926. Oil on canvas
Abstraction White Rose, 1927. Oil on canvas, 36 x 30 inches
Grey Lines with Black, Blue and Yellow, 1923
White Flower, 1929. Oil on canvas, 30 x 36 inches
Red Canna, 1924 | 29.0 in × 18.0 in
Blue Morning Glories, 1935
Red Canna, 1919
Sunflower, New Mexico 1, 1935. Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 inches
Beyond Flowers - Clouds, Landscapes, Horizon Lines
Sky above clouds III, 1963
Above the Clouds I, 1962-1963. Oil on canvas
Black Mesa Landscape, New Mexico / Out Back of Marie's II, 1930. Oil on canvas
The Beyond, 1972. Oil on canvas, 30 1/16 x 40 3/16 inches
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