magnolia in the style of georgia okeefe, mixed media

In April, 2012 I attended a workshop by Nancy Klos of Klos Studios at Oregon Society of Artists, the purpose of which was to practice techniques in the signature style of Georgia O'Keefe. The result of the workshop is this 12” x 9” mixed media painting of a magnolia from my gardens. Georgia O'Keefe is one of my favorite female artists. I love her abstract shapes, pure, bold colors and the way her paintings draw you in and make you notice the exquisite details in flowers and nature. I cropped a photograph that I had taken of the magnolia for the workshop. After doing a sketch of the flower and a contour drawing of the main petals on watercolor paper, I painted the background first, using deep shades of blue-green gouache. For the main flower, I painted each petal separately, selecting bright colors in opaque gouache for the shaded areas of the magnolia and light colors of transparent watercolor for the highlighted areas. To bring out details and create interesting textures in the painting, I blended in strokes of watercolor pencil and pastel to finish it. The painting is mounted on linen, double matted in ivory and framed in a light wood frame. The framed dimensions are 20” x 16”. 

This painting will be on display in the Oregon Society of Artist's Gallery for the month of December, 2012. Gallery hours are Monday to Friday 1:00PM to 4:00PM, excluding holidays. After January 4, 2013, this painting is available for purchase online here on my website. For more information or to arrange a private viewing please contact me at [email protected].