1. Look at the example of Georgia O’Keeffe’s work and note the title and medium.

2. Read the description of "Abstraction"  (You can print off a copy for yourself)

"There are two forms of the term abstract in the art. One form of abstract begins with the qualities of shape, colour and line without any reference to recognisable subject matter. The other form begins with a recognisable form, which is simplified. This is done by extracting motifs of the form."

"When concentrating on shape, colour and line the colours are chosen randomly and placed where they appear to look good. When painting shapes, they are based upon reaction to their placing, the way they fit together and whether they look good. This second kind of abstraction is found by focusing on an eye-catching object which is analysed in order to separate the various abstract components." Kenneth Jamieson, "Starting with Abstract Painting".

3. Use the "Looking at Pictures" notes to help you, now write your thoughts about the work. This may be in rough draft but you must write in full sentences and present your views using good art vocabulary. (the notes are also to be found on the website)

Below are some quotes from people who knew Georgia O’Keeffe and from O’Keeffe herself, include them if you can.

"O'Keeffe acted to suspend time, producing art that would capture the transient. For example, O'Keeffe made of a flower, with all its fragility, a permanent image without season, wilt, or decay. Enlarged and reconstructed in oil on canvas or pastel on paper, it is a vehicle for pure expression rather than an example of botanical illustration.

Her art also speaks about colour and its effects. Even the early black-and-white charcoals have a full range, from the highlit whites to the velvety blacks."

"We plunge into these charcoals, alluding to her self-described mental visions. The forms are like flickering flames or jewels held aloft by waterspouts. They become animated by our imagination, stimulated by O'Keeffe's curious effects.

These works are abstract swirls, fantasy renderings, strong forces with multiple associations to states of being, dream influences, and the birth of abstraction in early twentieth-century art. O'Keeffe used her colour both to seduce and repel. There are paintings, pastels, and watercolours of overwhelming beauty, where delicate hues delight our eye and a luxurious feeling permeates. But in an equal number of works she created harsh collisions of saturated colours whose initial garish appearances deny our appreciation. These recall the spirit of her words to Waldo Frank, "I would like the next [exhibition] to be so magnificently vulgar that all the people who have liked what I have been doing would stop speaking to me - My feeling today is that if I could do that I would be a great success to myself" (letter 10 January 1927). "

"O'Keeffe admitted carrying shapes around in her mind for a very long time until she could find the proper colours for them. When found, those colours would release an image from her mental catalogue and allow it to become a painting. O'Keeffe used colour as emotion. Through colour she would transfer the power and effects of music to canvas. In her abstractions, O'Keeffe wrapped colour around the ethereal. Whether her images are abstract or figurative, O'Keeffe gives the viewer a profound lesson in emotional and intellectual colouring. "