Sharing "a sense of place" with Georgia O'Keeffe

I have always been a fan of Georgia O'Keeffe's artwork.  I love how she experimented with scale, perspective, and color. She painted tiny flowers up close like you were looking at them through a magnifying glass. She painted massive landforms but showed them far off in the distance, so they appear small. She wasn’t interested in painting colors exactly as they look in nature. The subject matter of her paintings always appealed to me- flowers, trees, fruits, bones, rocks, the moon. She was inspired by the natural world which I completely understand. This is why when I read in the paper back in January that the Denver Art Museum was going to have a Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit running from February 10th to April 28th, I marked my calendar. I didn't want to miss it! 

We had planned to go to the museum on two separate occasions and both times we ended up not going because of major snow storms! This past Saturday, however, was dry and sunny. It also happened to be the first Saturday of the month which was great because that meant free admission to the art museum. Yay!

First time visiting the Denver Art Museum!

The exhibit focuses on Georgia O'Keeffe's appreciation of New Mexican landscapes. I learned that her life changed when she first visited New Mexico in 1929. She immediately fell in love with the rugged landscape and the mountains. She made frequent trips there while living in New York. In a letter to a close friend she explained her frequent visits: “You know I never feel at home in the East like I do out here—and finally feeling in the right place again—I feel like myself—and I like it.” I love that quote because I can identify with it. I feel like I found my place here in Colorado and it is such a wonderful feeling. The mountains have definitely put a spell on me and have inspired me to do the things I love again- hiking, photography, and writing. Drawing inspiration from nature is such an amazing thing and Georgia O'Keeffe was someone who understood that. Her love of the southwest is obvious when looking at her paintings. 

Right after I snapped this photo of Georgia O'Keeffe's beautiful cactus flower, a museum attendant came over to me and told me that photographs of this exhibit were not allowed. Oops!

So I was a fan of her work before, but after this trip to the museum I can say I am a fan of the artist herself. I learned that we both share "a sense of place" and how powerful that feeling can be. I told Jim that for my birthday I would like to take a road trip to New Mexico. It is only a 6 hour drive from here and I would love to see the Georgia O'Keeffe museum in Santa Fe as well as hike around Ghost Ranch where she made her home for many years and where she painted many of her landscapes. We are in the beginning stages of planning a weekend getaway there and I am very excited about it. :)