Georgia O'Keeffe's Daily Routine
Start slowly and finish work early. Georgia O'Keeffe's daily routine: a half-hour walk before breakfast and supper at 4:30 PM.
By Colin PaceUpdated
Overview
Georgia O'Keeffe was the modernist painter of giant flowers, bones and the New Mexico desert. Her daily routine was built around the dawn rather than the clock. She watched the sun come up from bed, and she ate her last meal of the day at 4:30 PM.
From 1949 she lived in New Mexico full time, at Abiquiu and Ghost Ranch. Mason Currey's Daily Rituals describes her making a fire and maybe some tea, then taking a half-hour walk, watching for rattlesnakes, before breakfast at 7:00 AM. On painting days she stayed in her studio, breaking at noon for lunch, and on other days she gardened, did housework, answered letters and received visitors. Supper came early to leave time for an evening drive through the countryside.
It suits anyone with a creative practice who wants the morning to start slowly and the working day to end early. It also suits people who split their week between making things and keeping house, and don't want one to swallow the other.
You get a quiet start, a full block for the work and an evening that is yours. Try it by walking before you check anything and starting work without opening the mail. The wake time, bedtime and the split into five painting days and two house days are our estimates.
Who's it for
At a glance
- 8 hr 30 min sleep per night
- 43 hr work per week
- 3 meals per day
- 10 hr eating window
- 3.5 hr movement per week
- 24.5 hr play per week
- 6 hr home time per week
Schedule
Similar frameworks
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