OK O'Keefe

This week's DOCUMENTED LIFE art challenge was The Color Wheel and the prompt was this quote from Georgia O'Keefe: "I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn't say any other way..."

Let  me just tell you, me and this spread fought really hard with each other, and either the spread won or it was a draw....  I just couldn't get inspired!  Don't get me wrong, I think the prompt and art challenge were GREAT...but for some reason, no matter how hard I racked my brain, I wasn't getting it!  

I ended up putting color on the page, thinking something would come to me once I did that:

I did actually really like the left page...the cool colors were really neat...but that left page...ugh...it just wasn't sitting right with me...

NOPE!  Still nothing...

Finally, I just scrolled around on an O'Keefe Pinterest search and found another quote of hers that I really liked:

"I have already settled it for myself, so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free." -Georgia O'Keefe

I just thought this quote was a good reminder to be true to your own vision...whether in art or in life.

I suppose it might be odd to some, especially because we all love to be praised for a job well done, but I really agree with the idea of not letting ourselves be affected by flattery in the same way that we wouldn't want to be too affected by criticism.  Just like everything else in life, I think it's wise to take praise in moderation.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing to be taken note of when we deserve it...it thrills me to the core when that happens to me!  

Praise is kind of like a drug though...the more you get, the more you want...and that can lead to a problem because you can find yourself doing things you don't actually want to do or that you don't enjoy doing just for the pat on the back you'll get.

It's why I love O'Keefe's quote so much...the idea of 'settling it for yourself' so that YOU are pleased and free to do what YOU like and enjoy...that appeals to me so much!  What an excellent way to be able to live happily.  

I love my dogs very much, but I'm not like them...I don't need that pat on the back to know I did right.

So THAT'S WHY I didn't like you right page...

In the end, after looking at this spread for a good while, I finally realized what it was that kept throwing me off.

I should have flip flopped the colors on the right page...so the yellow and orange would be to the far right and the pink and red towards the middle...then it would have a pattern that progressed from the darkest to the lightest colors and my brain would have been much happier!  It would have been like the colors were leading you to the next page!  

Of course, I see that the way I did it now is also a pattern, with the darker colors on the outside and the lighter ones within, but I know I would have liked it better the other way...so that's why this is my OK O'Keefe spread and not my fantastic O'Keefe spread.  (On the positive side, OK O'Keefe is sort of word play, and I do enjoy that!)

Oh well, you live and you learn, right?

Luckily for me, there's always more paper and more opportunities to settle things for myself!