Calla lily on gold leaf

[deevaa]

There is only so many times you can hear your work being likened to somebody else's before you actually seek out that person's work and look for yourself.

So when I saw a huge book called 'Georgia O'Keefe, the New York years' in the library last weekend I knew it was something I needed to take a closer look at.

And look I did.

I've spent the past week looking at, and thinking about her work, tonight I did a study from one of her paintings:



Calla Lily on dark red, c 1923
By Georgia O'Keefe.



Lovers Lily (on gold leaf), 2003
By Davena (deevaa) Abioye.

I tried to keep the koru/heart shape I've been working with recently in my version of the lily, not wanting to give too much away to Ms O'Keefe's vision.

I mean -- she's good -- but I'm still me. (laughing -- OK, so maybe she's better than good, but ya know .

It's nice to be painting again. I've been AWOL for a bit, we've moved house and I've been made full time at work.

The portrait of Janet Frame I entered into the National Works on Paper exhibition didn't make it, but I surprised myself by not taking it hard. LOL.


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[jenna_searcher]

o'keefe is one of my favorite artists, and this study is fantastic. the lovers lily..ahh..and you with the gold leaf and texture - i'm just breathless. thanks for the beauty.

[Tamana]

I like you as you. Love the gold leaf, and your rendition. Nice to hear your life is moving along. New home, new job, new influences to enhance your own. Your attitude regarding the show only demonstrates your professionalism. Up up and away you go...

Shalom,


Tam

[surreal]

I like your paintings.

The flowers look very sculptural in each painting.


I adore Georgia O'Keeffe's work.

[crazi4art]

wow i love georgia o'keefe and u did very well with ur painting :-) good job...

[Nisha]

Beautiful!
Lovely lily! Wish I could see the shimmer of the gold leaf better.
Do you texture with gesso/sizing before putting on the gold leaf?

I like O'Keefe too. You have a wonderful interpretation.

Nisha

[deevaa]

Originally posted by Nisha
Beautiful!
Lovely lily! Wish I could see the shimmer of the gold leaf better.
Do you texture with gesso/sizing before putting on the gold leaf?

I like O'Keefe too. You have a wonderful interpretation.

Nisha

No -- the texture is from super rough cotton watercolour paper -- it's really yummy (and it was pretty expensive) but I didn't like the way it soaked up the colour, so I never used it.... then one day I tried the gold leaf on it and it worked wonderfully. Applying the leaf is a bit tricky but I think if bits come off it just adds to the over all look.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I've really enjoyed these O'Keefe studies.

[deevaa]

by the way, here is a photograph which shows the goldleaf better:

[Nisha]

oooooh! Gorgeous!
I think I might invest in some gold leaf and put that gold acrylic away for a bit!


Thanks for the new pic!

Nisha

[Simcha]

I really like your lilly- beautiful interpretation of the master.


I see more of a spiral pattern in yours. If you do another lilly, would you develop the swirl into the center, maybe with more color? Just an idea. A good painting stimulates creativity.:clap:

[deevaa]

Originally posted by Nisha
oooooh! Gorgeous!
I think I might invest in some gold leaf and put that gold acrylic away for a bit!


Thanks for the new pic!

Nisha

I did the same, I used to use gold acrylic often, but I think my tube is now dried up and hard! LOL

The sheets are a bit tricky, but fun.

[Frank van Boxtel]

Nice work,

I love O'Keefe and calla lilies. They are such elegant fleshy flowers (the callas that is, not O'Keefe, although I'm sure she was fleshy too) I'm currently working on a series of flowers paintings myself and did a couple of calas in bunches.