"Georgia O'Keeffe, A Portrait"
A Tableau in A Limited-Edition



A Portrait of Georgia O'Keefe 		Georgia has always been a favorite painter of mine, admired greatly for her bigger-than-life flowers, and her celebration of beautiful bones. (My lovely bone collection has modeled for my drawing students for many years.) Visiting Santa Fe for the last two years and getting to know her better, I wanted to honor this independent and feisty individual who did just what she needed to do to follow her own artistic vision, in spite of critics and public opinion. Steiglitz may have made lovely photos of her when she was young, but it's the aging O'Keefe that he had rejected whom I most admire, her face lined with deturmination and a hidden sense of humor.

I had the awe-inspiring pleasure last April (1999) of walking some of the trails at Ghost Ranch, and sketching the moon rise over some of the same Abiquiu rock formations she captured so beautifully. How she made the colors and curving forms of Earth sing on canvas! And yet she dressed herself only in the stark simplicity of black and white.

I collected more photo research during that visit and have finally initiated my first limited edition portrait, in replicated authentic dress. She wears her favorite black kimono-like wrap dress and hat, with her signature silver-detailed belt, and the "O.K." brooch made for her by her friend Calder. I imagine her pausing before an adobe wall, after a long walk through the red rock formations, contemplating the beauty of their form and ideas for a new painting.

Click Here for a Close-up Portrait
This is my first Limited Edition, which has won a red ribbon (2nd) in Limited Editions category at Santa Fe Doll Art 2000, and recently the Amity Art Foundation Purchase Prize Award at the annual Portrait exhibition by the Paint and Palette Club in New Haven, Connecticut, Fall of 2002.

Georgia stands 16-17" tall, with a cloth covered, wired poseable body, and her parts cast in sturdy Porcelite resin. She is clothed in a black cotton wrap dress, with a copy of that famous leather belt, her hair of Cotswold wool, and hat with leather tie especially fashioned by me to scale.Sculpted parts and the cow skull are all cast from my original sculpting by fellow dollmaker Nancy Cronin, member of AADA. I paint, wig, sew, and assemble everything, and finish the stand. Backdrop is of textured and painted sturdy birch plywood, with wall approximately 12"wide x 20" high, fastened to its "earthy" base 8" deep. Back is stained. Each base is signed, and accompanying title certificate is signed and numbered.

Please contact me to reserve one of this limited edition tableaux.