Flower Studies

Medium: Pencil or advanced option in watercolor

Assignment: Find some flowers/plants (real or fake) and do some studies of them. Several quick sketches and a couple detailed sketches all on on page. Also read the related Art History below and look up Georgia O'Keeffe. Find out what her work looks like rather than biographical details like her birthday.

Georgia O'Keeffe

The reason why I painted my flowers so big was so people could not ignore them."

Georgia O' Keeffe
Georgia O' Keeffe, (1887-1986) was an American abstract painter, famous for the purity and lucidity of her still-life compositions. is best known for her large paintings of desert flowers and scenery, in which single blossoms or objects such as a cow's skull are presented in close-up views with fluid and intense detail.

O'Keeffe's giant flowers caused a sensation, eliciting a host of reactions ranging from critical raves to outrage to awe.

One reviewer said an O'Keeffe flower painting tends to make the viewer feel "as if we humans were butterflies."Not only the size, but O'Keeffe's bright colors were considered startling. The colors favored at the time were somber and dark. And added to the spectacular size and outrageous color was the fact that these paintings had been created by a woman at a time when the art world was almost exclusively male.

Flower Studies: Student Example

If you did your studies and want to challenge yourself try one in watercolor.

Student Examples in Watercolor