Georgia O'Keeffe

"I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way — things I had no words for."

— Georgia O'Keeffe

American Painter

1887 - 1986

Sometimes words are not enough.  Words can be vague and without meaning.  Words can be phony and fake.  Words can hurt and destroy.  Words can confuse.  Have words ever failed you?  Have words ever failed to communicate what you were feeling?  Have words left you cold and alone?  Don't worship words.  They are only a tool to help us convey the thoughts of our hearts.

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Georgia O'Keefe

"I decided to start anew — to strip away what I had been taught, to accept as true my own thinking."

— Georgia O'Keefe

American Painter

1887 - 1986

Papaya Tree-Iao Valley
(1939)

By the time we reach adulthood, we have subconsciously learned a lot about the expectations of the people in our lives — our family, our teachers and our friends.  And we often try to live our lives as others want us to live and work.  The problem comes in when we fail to live up to those expectations.  Some people spend unhappy lives trying to please others.  A few creative leaders are able to shake off the expectations of others and discover their true self.  Who are you?  Are you trying to please your family, friends and teachers?  Or have you discovered the person who you are meant to be?  Turning your back on what you were taught can be very difficult.  Letting go of the past can be very traumatic, but if you want to attain the person you were meant to be, you must find your own voice.

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Georgia O'Keefe

"It is very hard work to turn out anything that looks like a good painting."

— Georgia O'Keefe

American Artist

1887 - 1986

What is quality?  Or beauty?  Or greatness?  Most of us make judgements about what art we like and what art we hate.  The younger generation rejects the elders.  And the elders look down their noses at the young.  What is popular today may be forgotten tomorrow.  What is rejected today may inspire others tomorrow.  Beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder, but often we don't act that way.  Each of us thinks we know what is good, what is great and what is best, but it is only an opinion.  How can one judge if a work of art is great?  What makes a work of art great?  The fact that it is still in museums 200 or 300 years after it was created?  




Let's turn this question around.  What makes a work of art a failure?  How do you know when something fails — when something is no good?  Do you destroy your work because you feel it is no good.  Do you paint over your paintings?  Do you burn your manuscripts?  (I don't throw away anything I create even if I feel it is no good.) Why do people criticize a work of art?  What does the criticism say about the critic?  Who makes the critic the authority?  Can we trust that the critic is correct?  Do critics make mistakes?  I believe critics often make mistakes.  History proves them wrong.  Have faith in your work.  Don't accept the criticism of others.  They are human and often make mistakes.




Enjoy some of O'Keefe's paintings and become inspired.

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Alfred Stieglitz

"All art, like all love, is rooted in heartache."

— Alfred Stieglitz

American Photographer

1864 - 1946

Photograph of
Georgia O'Keeffe

Pain, suffering and loneliness draw out the artist in each of us.  When we are suffering, we have a need to share our hurt with others.  Some of the world's greatest works of art and literature have grown out of the pain the artists and writers felt as children.  What pain drives your need to express your feelings?  Or maybe, like me, you don't know.  I had a good childhood with loving parents.  There is no moment or experience in my life that caused me to want to write.  I just have a need to express myself.  I sometimes wonder if one of the reasons I have not written world-famous poetry is I have not suffered enough.  

Do you know why you have a need to write stories or poetry?  Do you know why you are driven to find those few minutes or hours a day to paint and draw?  Why do you need to share part of yourself with the world?

I believe our art is a way of healing the hurt we have felt.  Writing, painting, and playing music help us to subconsciously work through the pain we have experienced in our lives.  Our art gives us hope.

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Georgia O'Keefe

"Come quickly.  You mustn't miss the dawn.  It will never be just like this again."

— Georgia O'Keefe

American Artist

1887 - 1986

How much do we miss because we don't take the time to see it?  How many sunrises or sunsets have you spent time just enjoying the beauty?  Or are you like me — running from place to place, not spending time enjoying the beauty of nature?  I have lived through over 22,000 sunrises and 22,000 sunsets.  I would be lucky if I saw 200 of them.  I could probably count on one hand those I remember.  How much we miss because we are busy elsewhere!!

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Georgia O'Keefe

"Imagination makes you see all sorts of things."

Georgia O'Keefe

American Artist

1887 - 1986

Imagination is essential and necessary for the creative leader — writers, artists, poets, storytellers, musicians.  And in my experience we have very little control over it.  It appears when it wants to.  Have you ever struggled with a problem and could not find the answer and suddenly it appeared out of nowhere.  A few weeks ago, I was struggling with a project and during my morning walk at 5 am, the answer popped into my head.  Take good care of your imagination.  Encourage it.  Feed it.  Stretch it.  Trust it.  And believe in it.  Imagination is one of the best gifts that you have been given.

Do you know what it means to feed your imagination?  Give it large doses of information.  The creative mind needs information to be able to connect the dots between the strange and the obscure.  Read books on all kinds of topics.  Listen to people tell their stories.  Observe and study nature.  

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