Visual arts activity
Artist Spotlight: Georgia O'Keeffe
Look at O'Keeffe's huge flower paintings. Draw one flower really, really big.
Materials and setup
- internet or book with O'Keeffe images
- paper
- paint or colored pencils
Parent note
Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), American modernist, lived in Abiquiú, New Mexico from 1949. Her flower close-ups and Southwestern landscapes are thoroughly documented.
How this changes by age
Pre-K (ages 3–4)
Look at O'Keeffe's huge flower paintings. Draw one flower really, really big.
Steps
- Look at a Georgia O'Keeffe flower painting ('Red Canna' or 'Oriental Poppies').
- Notice how the flower fills the whole paper.
- Pick a flower or leaf.
- Draw it SO BIG it goes off the edges of your paper.
- Color it in.
Learning objectives
- Notice a scale choice (very big)
- Fill a page with one subject
- Try a new compositional idea
Kindergarten (ages 5–6)
Study 2 O'Keeffe flowers. Paint your own giant flower with smooth, curving shapes.
Steps
- Look at 2 O'Keeffe flower paintings.
- Notice the smooth curves and blended colors.
- Pick a real flower (or photo) to copy.
- Draw it filling the whole page.
- Paint with smooth blends (wet brush) instead of hard lines.
Learning objectives
- Observe smooth blended color
- Scale up a subject
- Use curves as a design element
Early elementary (ages 6–8)
Learn about Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986), an American modernist. Paint a close-up of a flower or natural object using blended color.
Steps
- Read a short bio: O'Keeffe was an American painter (1887-1986) famous for large flower paintings and New Mexico landscapes.
- Pick a flower, shell, or bone from nature to observe closely.
- Sketch it cropping in so the subject fills your page.
- Paint using blended tones — no hard outlines.
- Compare your crop to O'Keeffe's crops.
Learning objectives
- Learn O'Keeffe's life and work
- Use extreme close-up as composition
- Blend color without outlines
Upper elementary (ages 8–10)
Study O'Keeffe's New Mexico landscapes AND her flower close-ups. Create a pair of paintings — one macro (close-up), one wide landscape — using similar color language.
Steps
- Research O'Keeffe (1887-1986). Key facts: American modernist, known for magnified flowers AND wide New Mexico landscapes (she lived in Abiquiú, NM from 1949).
- Study 3 flower paintings and 3 New Mexico landscapes.
- Pick a single color palette from your observations.
- Paint 2 pieces: one extreme close-up and one wide scene, using the same palette.
- Write a 1-paragraph analysis: how does O'Keeffe's visual language carry across different scales?
Learning objectives
- Study O'Keeffe's full body of work
- Apply a unified palette across different compositions
- Analyze visual style across scales
Safety and evidence note
Read the full activity before beginning. An adult should supervise tools, heat, food, outdoor work, movement, and experiments as appropriate. Completion records that the activity was done; the child’s explanation, work sample, photo, or demonstration is stronger evidence of learning than a completion check alone.
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