My earliest influence, Georgia O'Keefe

It'd be fair to say that Georgia O'Keefe has been one of the strongest influences on my ideas of art and design, and she's absolutely my earliest influence. I first remember seeing her painting on a PBS program when I was around five. The bright colors and simple, organic shapes entranced me then, and they continue to today. Her abstracts hint that they are not so abstract, and her still life's hint that they may be more abstract than you think. I have always loved the way her colors always seem to have a beautiful, smooth gradation from light to dark, or color to color. Her use of color contrast is amazing and beautiful. And the colors themselves - you won't find a bolder, more interesting palette except in nature.

Perhaps more than anything I love her use of line: undulating, sometimes curvy, sometimes sharp; always organic, living, wild, and beautiful. It is her sense of line that I find popping up in my favorite bits of my own work; soft curves and organic shapes. Looking at my Trillium Arts logo, its practically an ode to Georgia in both its line and subject matter.

Of course, I should also mention here that I also love Georgia for another reason - she's a woman who made it to the very top of a male-dominated field, at a time before women's lib had really taken hold. Oh yeah, and she's from Wisconsin :)