Georgia O'Keeffe was born in a time when women were were pretty much restricted to becoming nurses or school teachers. But Georgia followed her own instincts. Although she studied classical styles of painting at the Art Institute in Chicago and the Art Student's League in New York, she was unexcited by doing what others had already done.

Dissatisfied, she gave up on painting for four years. Later she said of this period that she said she couldn't stand the smell of turpentine.

Then, she attended art classes at the University of Virginia Summer School where she was exposed to the ideas of Arthur Wesley Dow who encouraged students to express themselves using line, color and shading harmoniously.

With this new-found permission, Georgia began painting anew, and continued the rest of her life.

Whether skyscrapers in cityscapes of New York, the natural environs surrounding Lake George, or the colorful and shapely mountains of her beloved New Mexico, Georgia's sense of shape and color has captured the imaginations of her viewers past and present.

The best way to get to know Georgia O'Keeffe is to view a sampling of her paintings and to listen to her speak of her painting. The films accompanying this article were done in the 1970's when Georgia was 89 and 90 years old. She reflects on her long artistic career, her relationship with Alfred Stieglitz, and on the nature of her abstract style. Listening to her, you can't help but like her and wonder what it would have been like to have her for a next door neighbor.

In keeping with Festival of Roses, a good place to start is with Diego Rivera's The Flower Vendor. Diego Rivera moved to Europe in 1907, returning to home in 1921. He was influenced by Italian muralists and French painters. Back in Mexico, Rivera changed the direction of Mexican art dramatically. He was commissioned to paint murals in the United States where he provided a major influence on American painters as well. The theme of a female flower vendor dwarfed by a massive display of flowers was an image Rivera painted many times. Perhaps this theme can best be appreciated in Pasadena.

Claude Monet is loved for paintings of his sun-drenched flower gardens. Monet lived along the Seine where he kept his garden full of sunflowers. The Artist's Garden at Vetheuil 1881 is one of four paintings Monet did showing the stairs and garden. Light electrifies the colors and even the shadows seem luminescent. These shadows are painted with blues, deep purples, and dark greens, all painted with quick short brushstrokes, a true celebration of the colors of summer.

Gustave Caillebotte's Canoe on the Yerres River 1878 is typical of his impressionist paintings showing leisurely activities. He is also known for urban scenes of Paris. In the 1770's and 1880's, Caillebotte participated in five exhibitions of impressionist paintings. Caillebotte was the son of affluent parents and used his inheritance to invest in works of his fellow artists, Degas, Monet, Renoir, and Cezanne. Today, his acquisitions form the core of the collection of the Musee d' Orsay in Paris.

Here, the woman's quality of dress and the deluxe seaside vacation site are consistant with her status. But her quick and confident brushwork show a work unconventional in its execution.

Today, Vincent Van Gogh is one of the most recognizable and best loved painters of any genre. His painting career was remarkably short. He died at age 37 and did not begin painting until his late twenties. He suffered bouts of anxiety and mental illness. During his lifetime, his work was known by only a few and appreciated by even less. However, after his death retrospective exhibitions were held in Brussels, Paris, the Hague, Antwerp, Amsterdam, Cologne and New York. By the mid twentieth century, Van Gogh was one of the most recognizable and best loved painters of all time.

Below are three of Van Gogh's paintings on display at the Norton Simon. His Portrait of a Peasant 1888 was painted soon after his move to Arles in the south of France. Van Gogh moved from Paris seeking to improve his health in a world less cluttered. The peasant pictured is Patience Escaller, an old gardener and former goat herder. Unlike Van Gogh's earlier dark paintings of peasants, this painting radiates a rainbow of color giving greater expression to the character.

His Portrait of the Artist's Mother 1888 Van Gogh was set to welcome his painting friend Paul Guaguin to Arles. He hoped the two would become the root of an art colony, a "Studio of the South."

Born of the Dutch tradition, Van Gogh had portraits on his mind, including self portraits and portraits of his family. In letters to his brother Theo, Van Gogh wrote of his mother's portrait,

"I am doing a portrait of Mother for myself. I cannot stand the colorless photograph, and I am trying to do one in a harmony of color, as I see her in my memory." The painting is based on a black and white photo Van Gogh kept of his mother. He painted her in a rather monochromatic fashion, but his mother appears attentive, and proud.

In the spring of 1889, Van Gogh committed himself to the asylum at Saint-Remy. It is believed he suffered from epilepsy. His painting from this period reflects his search to create dazzling compositions full of energy with vigorous brushwork. Van Gogh believed this particular painting The Mulberry Tree was the best of his mulberry tree paintings, commenting on it three times in his letters to his brother Theo.

Another remarkable post impressionist visionary was Amedeo Modigliani. Although he enjoyed the company of Pablo Picasso, Modigliani took his artistic cues from European medieval art and borrowed influences from several non-western cultures. He is known for his stylized portraits, all bearing linear simplifications and often elongated necks. Portrait of the Artist's Wife, Jeanne Hebuterne 1918 is typical of his portrait style. Modigliani abused alcohol and drugs and died of tuberculosis at the age of 36. Grief stricken, Jeanne Hebuterne, who was pregnant at the time, killed herself just two days after Modigliani's death.

The most renowned artist of the 20th century was Pablo Picasso, known for co-founding the cubist movement and the invention of constructed sculpture. As a young artist, Picasso painted in a realistic manner, but over time, changed his style as he experimented with different theories, techniques and ideas.

Painting portraits of women reading was a favorite subject for Picasso. Several such portraits were part of the recent Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso, Paris Exhibition at San Francisco's de Young Musuem in 2011.

His Woman Reading a Book is a portrait of his lover, Marie-Therese Walter, 1909-1977. With simplified black thick lines and color, Picasso captures the sitter's bourgeois backgrounds and her sensuality while focusing on her dreamy gaze. Picasso was most at home between the lines of realism and abstraction, and here uses both.

These paintings and much more await at the Norton Simon Museum. View their website and visit next time you're in the Southland.

Bodega Bay Heritage Gallery often has artist visitors, and we like to tell people about some who are not Sonoma County locals. One such is Jim DeWitt, who recently was named the America’s Cup Artist-in-Residence by the Golden Gate Yacht Club, host club for the 34th America’s Cup races on San Francisco Bay. A special presentation of his America’s Cup work is posted at www.DeWittAmericasCupArt.com.

Jim was born in Oakland in 1930. At age five, he drew a picture of a sailboat built by his father in the backyard. He attended Oakland's California College of Arts and the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design. In his spare time, he raced sailboats and made sails.

Jim has exhibited in gallleries and museums worldwide, and hang in prestigious yacht clubs around the world. In recent years, he has also painted a series of dog paintings, just because it pleases him. His portraits are as exciting as his yachting, vibrant color surrounding extremely expressive subjects.

Jim loves painting, it springs from his life loving spirit and we thank him for sharing his enthusiasm with us. We are pleased to introduce you to Jim's work and share some samples and a link to his website is below.

Our Gallery Hours are from 12:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M., Wednesday through Sunday. We are also available for scheduled appointments, especially for those who wish to view the gallery on Mondays or Tuesdays. Please call Dan at the gallery and schedule a visit, or call him on his cellphone, 510-414-9821.

The Walt Disney Family Museum
This museum tells Walt's story from the early days.
(on the Parade Grounds) 104 Montgomery Street,
The Presidio of San Francisco, CA 94129
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