Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature, it will never fail you...Frank Lloyd Write

     Nature, nature is full of so many artistic possibilities and challenges. Every form, whether it is broad such as landscapes or individual forms such as trees or flowers, presents its own set of challenges. Nature includes all of the Elements of Art and is its own blank canvas of possibilities.
     For my last Visual Arts piece, I selected to do a watercolor in the style of Georgia O'Keeffe, a brilliant artist who began her legacy in the early 1900's. She was a painter that is well known for her paintings focusing on nature, which include, landscapes, trees, leaves and flowers. O'Keeffe believed in self-expression which led to the exploration of Abstract Art. She, like any artist, experimented with several different types of mediums. She explored these mediums in stages that began with charcoal, moved into watercolor and then oils. 

"I have but one desire as a painter – that is to paint what I see, as I see it, in my own way..."

            Georgia O'Keeffe

     Water color was a new medium that I had not yet tried. I was a little apprehensive about it because I had always heard that it is a very unforgiving medium to work with as once the color is down, down is where it stays. I have always been told that if a mistake is made with water color, that mistake remains. There is no time like the present to dive in, so it was time to try something new and see where it led.

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Peter H. Reynolds: Vashti and The Dot.

    My favorite flower is the Cone-flower, which I have everywhere in my gardens surrounding my home. It is delicate, but an incredibly sturdy and long lasting flower. It graces my gardens in midsummer all the way to late fall. The beauty doesn't stop there as I leave the flowers up all throughout the winter as a source of food for the birds. This flower not only gives me gorgeous color, but brings wildlife right to my door.  

Below is a picture of a purple cone flower taken this summer with my phone (for some dumb reason, it will not go through to my email so I can download :/ ) and the cone-flowers now....brrr.

Georgia O'Keeffe was famous for her water color paintings of flowers. 

image courtesy of pinterest

    It only made sense to paint a flower if I was going to try and do it within her style. Why not celebrate her style with attempting to paint a flower I dearly love? I began the process and became very involved.

    I used water color pencils for my first go around. I figured since water color has been said to be so unforgiving, it would be easier for me to control.

 I will have to say I loved it! I did have more control and since I am comfortable with pencils, I was able to use different hues of the same color to provide shading. After coloring with the pencils in different hues, I would add water. It was at this time that I fell in love with water color! It was actually pretty easy and the more comfortable I became, the more confident I became. When this happened, I began to experiment with color by adding additional colors that I would normally NOT think would be present. The addition of these colors actually enhanced the painting giving it depth and the illusion of texture. 

The results of playing with water color pencils....

 I was very pleased, yet I still wanted the flowers to stand out more, so I decided to add a light yellow background. I do not particularly care for this, so I will tweak it and add more colors until I get it the way I want. 

 After this painting, I wanted more! Georgia O'Keeffe also painted trees! She mainly used oils for her trees, but still, I was excited. 

image courtesy of pinterest

     I decided to have another go and create my own watercolor tree painting. I am not done with this piece as of yet, but I am very pleased with how it is turning out thus far. Again, I played around with colors that I wouldn't normally think belonged. Again I was pleased with the results. Oh the places I will go with this!

    These projects have been wonderful! I thoroughly enjoyed stretching myself and trying new mediums. It is a wonderful feeling when something is tried and success is felt. I have never had "homework" that I have enjoyed more and was actually sad to see complete. I am once again inspired through these assignments where I was forced to "play" to meet the assignments requirements. Without the assignments, who knows when I would have the time to delve back into my art, let alone take the time to play and experiment. I do not think I will put my art away now that I have revisited how much I enjoy it and how it takes me to another place where the stresses and deadlines can't reach. It takes me to the place where their are no limits on my creativity. It is my happy place :)

    I found that I enjoyed not only the process of the art assignments, but I also enjoyed sharing my art with others. My art is something that is unique to me, and I like to hear it attached to who I am when others speak about it. I am an artist, mostly in my own mind, and always evolving, but none the less, I am an artist. 

Image courtesy of pinterest.