30,000′ 04
On a recent trip to Santa Fe, NM, I visited Georgia O’Keefe’s home near Abiquiú and was struck by the landscape she painted for much of her life. It was a place she knew was “home” as soon as she arrived. Although she has been an influence in my flower mandala work, I had seen neither her paintings of this area nor the area itself.
After I returned to the Boston area, I looked over the images I’d captured and was attracted to those I’d taken out the window of the plane as we flew between Denver and Albuquerque, particularly by the soft tones reminiscent of O’Keefe’s New Mexican landscape. I have long been envious of photographers who go on exotic image-gathering trips and have admired their skill and vision, but on this trip I found that Georgia O’Keefe’s vision had influenced me in ways I could not have known until I reached New Mexico, and that I shared her sense of wonder at the Earth and, in my own way, her means of capturing it.

Though I would still like to travel to the far reaches of the globe, and though I would like to continue to refine my skills, I’m more aware now than I have ever been that I, too, have something to say about our world and have a particular way my eyes, mind, and hands convey it.
O’Keefe turns out to have been my mentor in more than the obvious flower-image way. Who, I wonder, is yours?
More anon,
David
Discussion:
Art, Healing, and Transformation group
Flower Mandalas Project group
Cultivating Creativity group
Request the 15 Flower Mandalas screensaver: Fifteen Flower Mandalas
© 2009, David J. Bookbinder