I went looking for Georgia O'Keeffe, after seeing her painting 'a crack in a leaf,' I had to explore the artistic mind, who pictured a flaw as a worthy find.

Her view of the world was unique all around. Her tree in the sky.  Her sky on the ground.  Her flowers are big. Her river is small.  Her canvas is short, but her building is tall.

I read every book on her love and her life.  Georgia the artist, the teacher, the wife.  In the echo of time I could hear Georgia say, "Art fills a space in a beautiful way."

But the more that I read, the less that I knew, of this 'woman on paper' who painted and drew.  In the 'Land of the Sun' I continued my search, for the 'colors', the ranch, and the old Taos Church.

As I traveled the desert I knew from the start, Georgia's presence was guiding and pulling my heart.  To see what she saw in the hills was my quest.  Until I found Georgia, my heart would not rest.

The sun light that warmed her was shining on me.  The hard ancient landscape was still there to see.  The same wind that cooled her, now blew through my hair.  The blackbird she painted called out on the air…

"Alas, you're too late.  Your mentor is gone.  She flies on the winds of the far distant song."  I heard a voice whisper these words in my heart, "You will only find Georgia when pursuing your art."

Though I never touched brushes she held in her hand, nor followed a track that she left on the land.  My direction was clear, and I knew why I came.  Her spirit was free, and the wind knew her name.

So I gathered the seeds from the flowering grass, that lifted it's face when she had walked past, and planted them here in Nebraska's black earth. Now her spirit will bloom in the land of my birth.

Her passion for art was a captured reflection, of her passion for life in all it's perfection.  I started my journey in books on a shelf. In the end, thanks to Georgia, I discovered myself.