I painted a Georgia O'Keeffe on the front of my house

The front of my house looking like Georgia O'Keeffe's "Sky above Clouds IV"

I’m taking down the Georgia O’Keeffe artwork that was on display at my house. Actually, it was on display ON my house. How is that possible? Let me tell you a story.

A couple of months ago, the front of my house got blasted by some unusually aggressive horizontal hail, leaving marks all over the wood siding.

This past Saturday, I decided to paint over the damage. First I sanded out the marks. But since my house is 100 years old, the paint was already peeling and chipping in spots. Once I started sanding, the problem areas grew. Then I primed the bare wood, which made the spots even bigger.

At the moment, the front of my house looks like a leopard. As far as I know, I now own the only leopard-skin house on the block.

Then I realized the scattered white primer spots looked familiar. You know the giant iconic Georgia O’Keeffe painting at the Art Institute of Chicago?

Hubbard Street dancers perform an interpretation of Georgia O'Keeffe's "Sky above Clouds IV" — The photo was taken by me on November 17, 2011. Hubbard Street dancers perform an interpretation of Georgia O’Keeffe’s “Sky above Clouds IV“

I’ve been telling my neighbors that I was so inspired by O’Keeffe’s giant cloud painting at the Art Institute of Chicago that I decided to create my own large-scale exterior installation piece.

Here’s hoping that my neighbors take inspiration and decide to make a Picasso on their house or perhaps a Matisse.

Which reminds me of one of our favorite books on our bookshelf, When Pigasso Met Mootisse (affiliate link). My kids loved it when we would read this book to them.

At first, Picasso and Mootisse are friends who live across the street from each other, but then they get into a fight. Each paints a giant artwork on their house, so their neighbor is forced to look at their artwork.

Pigasso stormed off into his house. "That Mootisse doesn't like my art," he huffed. "Well, I'll show him."
And Mootisse bullied his way into his house. "I'll give that Pigasso something he can really criticize," he snorted.
Then a full-scale feud erupted. But it was a most unusual battle. Armed with ladders and buckets of paint, Mootisse launched the first attack. He started at dawn. By the end of the evening he had succeeded in transforming the outside of his house into a monster-sized "Moosterpiece."

Not to be outdone, Pigasso fired up his paint brushes and, in full view of the enemy, counter-attacked. He turned his farm into a huge and outrageous "Pork of Art."
The two artists then retreated into their houses and pulled down the shades. Pigasso certainly didn't want to look out his window and stare at a "Mootisse." And Mootisse had no desire to give his rooms a view of a "Pigasso."

Eventually they realize the whole feud was a misunderstanding, and they create a collaborative artwork together.

Having a giant artwork on the front of your house reminds me of how I painted an O’Keeffe on my house. Maybe my house could be the sequel, Picasso, Mootisse, and O’Geese.

This wouldn’t be the first time O’Keeffe’s cloud painting has been used in a different context. In 2024, NASCAR wrapped the pace car with the painting.

Meanwhile, the O’Keeffe show is coming down on Wednesday, because I need to finish the front of the house. Once the solid over-painting is completed, I’ll be pondering the meaning of my new flat “Color Field” artwork, thinking maybe it’s a Rothko or a Barnett Newman.

Rothdoe, anyone?… Get it? Rothko as a deer.

Ok, I can’t end on that bad pun. But here’s something entirely inspiring. A Chicago alley where every garage door is an artwork. It’s literally a gallery in an alley.

Here’s wishing that @garagedork on Instagram would post more pics of garage door artwork in Chicago.

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