Abstraction can be hard for older students to understand, and it usually involves simplifying or rearranging natural objects to meet the needs of the artist, whether it be for organization or expression. But, in reality, that is what young artists do when they draw from life. They do not have enough experience--and sometimes the patience--to see the details and complexity of objects. To introduce the concept to her third-grade students, the author showed them some of Georgia O'Keeffe's paintings. In this article, the author describes how students used their shoes as inspiration for their paintings.