love flowers or hate them?

tulip, coloured pencil on Stonehenge paper, 8 3/4" x 6", copyright Teresa Mallen

Ah to be famous...and to have your words live on.

 

Georgia O'Keeffe is quoted as saying "I hate flowers. I paint them because they're cheaper than models and they don't move."

 

Was she being serious or was this taken out of context? After reading biographies of Georgia and reading some of her letters that have been published since her death, I think she was a woman who enjoyed sparking a bit of controversy.

 

As well, she would tire of expectations and assumptions about her work and she struggled to be understood. She insisted that her famous flower images were not created with the sexual messages that were attributed to them. It seems no one listened. She turned to other subject matter...

 

Whether she hated flowers or loved them, I for one am glad she painted them.

 

I can't imagine a world without flowers so for the record, I draw them because I get great pleasure from their beauty.