Flowers in the desert

... or dessert (never get two dyslexic's to make your poster). Georgia O'Keeffe was an artist I knew little about even having studied art for four years of my life, or more. It occurred to me while doing the poster for this art talk that while not knowingly an influence on me her artwork and mine had a lot in common. 

I thought I should go back to school (or work at least) and learn something new about a fellow creative. She is known as one of the fundamental figures in American modernism and is best know for her magnified flowers, animal skulls and the New Mexico desert landscape - but her charcoal sketches are very intriguing too. 

She made her debut exactly a century ago in 1916. The Tate modern reopens after it's revamp this summer with a retrospective of her work, which had been rarely seen outside of America since her death in 1986 (6th July - 30 October). She herself hated exhibitions of her work and the sexual connotations associated with her flower paintings.  

While on the theme of flowers there is also an interesting exhibition on at the National Gallery (6th April - 29th August) called 'Dutch Flowers' exploring the evolution of Dutch flower painting over the course of two centuries. That reminds me I've got my own #40to40 masterpiece to complete, you can see more of my efforts on ahomespunyarn page.