I am trying with all my skill to do a painting that is all of women.

"I am trying with all my skill to do a painting that is all of women."

Georgia O'Keeffe

Photos: The desert country where O'Keeffe painted, near Ghost Ranch, NM, May 25, 2015

I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do.

"I've been absolutely terrified every moment of my life and I've never let it keep me from doing a single thing that I wanted to do."

Georgia O'Keeffe

Photos: Looking down on O'Keeffe's "backyard"; May 25, 2015

Flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free . . .

"I have already settled it for myself, so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free. Someone else's vision will never be as good as your own vision of yourself. Live and die with it 'cause in the end it's all you have. Lose it and you lose yourself and everything else. I should have listened to myself."

Georgia O'Keeffe

Photo: Chimney Rock and The Pedernal, near O'Keeffe's house, Ghost Ranch, NM, May 25, 2015

Interest, not happiness, is the key to a fulfilling life.

"I think it's so foolish for people to want to be happy. Happy is so momentary - you're happy for an instant and then you start thinking again. Interest is the most important thing in life; happiness is temporary, but interest is continuous."

Georgia O'Keeffe

Photos: Looking down on the country O'Keeffe painted, Ghost Ranch, NM, May 25, 2015. In the Paintbrush photo, O'Keeffe's home is just behind the red badlands.

New Mexico fitted to me exactly.

"When I got to New Mexico, that was mine. As soon as I saw it, that was my country. I'd never seen anything like it before, but it fitted to me exactly."

Georgia O'Keeffe
Landscape painter

Photos: Various scenes from Ghost Ranch, NM and the Chimney Rock Trail. In the top photo, the house in the distance is O'Keeffe's. May 24-25, 2015

Nobody sees a flower, really . . .

"Nobody sees a flower, really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time."

Georgia O'Keeffe

Photos: Pasqueflowers and fly, Hewlett Gulch, Roosevelt National Forest, CO, March 18, 2015

Nobody sees a flower, really.

“Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time.”

Georgia O'Keeffe

Photo:  A fly pollinates a Pasqueflower in the shadow of Greyrock; Roosevelt National Forest, CO; April 6, 2013

To see a flower takes time, just as having a friend takes time

"Nobody sees a flower really; it is so small. We haven't time, and to see takes time - like to have a friend takes time."

Georgia O'Keeffe 

Photo: Pasqueflowers bejeweled in drops of condensed mist, Lory State Park, CO, April 11, 2012