My version of Deer's Skull with Pedernal by Georgia O'keeffe

I spent last week working with the teens at the museum. One of the classes I taught was in Charcoal. I had the students work on bone studies of a goat skull I have in my studio. While I was working with them, I was reminded of Georgia O'keeffe and her paintings of skulls that were larger than life. I could hardly wait to run to my own studio and paint!
While this is not a skull, (my husband tells me it is a breastbone from a catfish) it is still beautiful in it's own way. It is also larger than the actual bone which is 4 inches. In the painting, the bone is 12 inches. The painting is 10 x 20 and oil on canvas. I also have this piece of driftwood that Chris found at the Alba Club. I wanted it to have the same feeling as the O'keeffe piece so I put the water behind it. It took about 5 hours to complete and really beat me up in the process. My back is burning! I really enjoyed doing this one though, and I love the combination of Blues and Browns!
This painting is also giving me ideas for shells on the driftwood as well. I love painting the wood, it is almost like you are carving the piece as you paint!