georgia's flowers

watercolor paper, pencils, fabric sunflowers, watercolors,
paint brushes, small cups for water,
images of georgia o'keeffe's work

Using store bought fabric sunflowers, we viewed, sketched, and painted the flowers in an O'Keeffe way. Georgia O'Keeffe had an eye for beauty and detail. She would love to sketch and observe all things around her. Each large painting she painted was so cherished by her that it was hard for her to see them go, they were like family. O'Keeffe, an American woman artist at a time when the field was dominated by male counterparts and European art, she began to break down stifling boundaries by showing and selling her work in galleries, she was in high demand. She also helped define an American Style of art which was beginning to move into abstraction, this gave her an important and influential voice in the art world. She is so amazing!

The kids love the idea of holding their own flowers to observe closely. A little lesson on how to sketch followed handing out the flowers. Real flowers are absolutely wonderful and so beautiful but can be costly too, fabric flowers are a great source of inspiration and can be used repeatedly when sketching, and in still life vignettes. One of the first things to stress is the idea of sketching really BIG in an O'Keeffe manner where the flower begins to look less like a flower. Encourage drawing off the paper, oh my, how uncomfortable they will be. If you find some of the students feeling stuck on how to sketch the flower ask them to look for the shapes, starting with the large center shape and moving out to the petals, they can even break up the shapes further by looking at the gradations of colors in the flower. Painting will be the fun part of this project because they get to decide what color their flower will be. They do not have to follow the colors they see in the flower, in fact about this time is when I collect the flowers and pencils. If using palette watercolors this is a great time to explain how to use the lid of the palette as a place to mix colors (very fun!). I also do a little brush demonstration on how to sweep across the page rather that scrub the sink, this will help with the longevity of the brushes. Have them paint with their feelings, their colors will be exciting and unexpected. When finished, you will want a whole bouquet of these flowers!