from Scratch Archives

December 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – 5th Painting, by Maurice Denis

December 5, 2024

I love this painting - I think I need to look at some other works by him!

As with all of our heroines, this lover of muted colors already has a pretty complete wardrobe. 48 garments should give just about anybody PLENTY of outfits, don't you imagine?

Her jewelry is great - and her scarves too! She's had quite a lot of luck this year finding things that suit her:

Her bags and shoes are great too...

After last month's plunge into holiday attire, our heroine thinks she wants one more "festive" top. She finds something that will be perfect with her velvet pants but can also be dressed down. The rest of her shopping allotment consists of three garments that can be worn together for a warm and soft ... View the Post

November 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Sixth Painting by Maurice Denis

November 8, 2024

I initially typed the date as 2015. Freudian as heck, in all KINDS of ways...

This last of our six paintings - have you like having these spread over six days? I'm finding it a very manageable system. I like having more time to spend on each wardrobe. Let me know how you feel, and I may adjust the posts for this theme accordingly.

So let's revisit this most relaxing and elegant of images:

As much as these aren't my favorite colors, I would be comforted to see these tops in my closet. That stack of four long-sleeved tee shirts never grows old for me...

If you're never going to wear a dress or skirt, you will probably find yourself with a tidy assortment of pants!

I need to figure out why these ... View the Post

November 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Fifth Painting by Paul Klee

November 7, 2024

This painting both delights and confounds me; I think that's good!

This heroine is committed to the beige core of her wardrobe, and her unusual assortment of accent colors - two soft ones, three bright ones.

But there are no rules about this kind of thing, so it makes sense ONLY to choose what delights you.

Coming into November, our heroine has a lovely, wide-ranging assortment of tops:

And she owns three dresses! Maybe sometime, she'll come across a printed dress, or a pastel one, that speaks to her. And I'm sort of tickled that she has the same pants in yellow AND orange. If you love something, there's no reason to avoid a duplicate...

Her scarves and jewelry are pretty delectable:

And ... View the Post

November 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Fourth Painting, by Mark Rothko

November 6, 2024

Probably my favorite painting, if not necessarily my favorite wardrobe; my favorite wardrobe changes hourly!

She's pretty well stocked with tops - basic and not!

And yes, she already has THREE dresses, as well as a matching blouse and skirt...

She has all of the best scarves, and I covet her earrings...

Her shoes and bags cover her needs pretty thoroughly...

But this is - hands down - the heroine with the dressiest life. And she's facing a daunting onslaught of holiday activities, including quite a few that are work-related!

So she's getting what she needs. A suit, two dressy tops, metallic flats, and festive jewelry! She's going to sort out what she's wearing for EACH event, and ... View the Post

November 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Third Painting by Elizabeth Magill

November 5, 2024

If you're in the US, I'm assuming that you have already voted, or have a plan to vote today... A Big Small Change Our heroine's been living in a blue and white wardrobe, inspired by her love of this painting:

She has a wardrobe full of lovely tops - solids, prints, almost all of the basics, and a nice bunch of accent and statement things:

Maybe she could use another dress? Or not - she has skirts, and the world just isn't as dressed up as it used to be...

She loves her scarves and jewelry, and who wouldn't?

She also feels pretty good about her shoes and bags:

But she's been thinking for quite a long time about denim. Not a TON of denim, but maybe a pair of jeans? And a chambray ... View the Post

November 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Second Painting, by Georgia O’Keeffe

November 4, 2024

I think I'm going to do a post each day this week, and finish the six paintings for the month of November. It seems to me that any kind of distraction might come in handy right now...

Ah, this most exuberant of heroines! Not just anybody could pull off a wardrobe in only three colors, when one of them is RED. But it's possible. There are lots of women, and lots of wardrobes...

This wardrobe feels pretty complete to me - when you remember that you can only wear one outfit at a time (at least in theory!), own this much clothing feels pretty complete...

In all fairness, if this was my wardrobe, I'd need a few more summer dresses! But still, I don't think I'd ever really struggle to get dressed...

I ... View the Post

November 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – First Painting, by John Nash

November 1, 2024

Sitting up in my desk chair is still a challenge, so I've decided to attack these paintings "one at a time." Well, it's possible that my endurance will increase - we can always hope!

When you've reached the point at which you have 44 garments in your wardrobe, you actually should be in pretty good shape for getting dressed for most things in life. I started keeping track of what I wear every day, and since mid-June, I'm at about 40 pieces. With a bit of thinking, I'm sure that I could assemble a very workable wardrobe of 52 garments, which is our target for these six wardrobes. (12 months x 4 garments per month + the Christmas Day bonus four from when I announce the paintings = 52).

Oh yeah. 52 would also be ... View the Post

October 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Part 2

October 4, 2024

Have you started autumn shopping? I'm NOT buying anything this fall - I don't have enough space in my closet for what I already own! These closets are not working out as I had dreamed...

But let's see how our heroines are doing - they always inspire me!

We are inspired by the above painting, although it isn't working out as I had envisioned - it turns out that shades of blue don't work as nicely together as I had originally thought! Nevertheless, this wardrobe is pretty cool...

As of the end of September, she had these tops:

and these bottoms:

She has some great jewelry, and scarves:

And all of the essential bags & shoes:

She can always find something useful, though!

This ... View the Post

October 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Part 1

October 2, 2024

Let's check in with what the "Start With Art" heroines have been buying!

This month, we're starting with this heroine and this painting. The more I look at this painting, the more I appreciate it - especially the essential touches of black in a painting that is mostly warm colors. Sometimes, you just want to have some black in your closet...

First up - let's look at her wardrobe as of the end of September. I've divided these into two images, so that we can actually SEE the garments:

Hmm... no dresses, no skirts. That's this heroine's preference, and I can support this! I have a couple of friends who may have legs, but I've never seen them, so I'm only assuming this is true...

And now her accessories - ... View the Post

September 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Part 2

September 6, 2024

Sorry about that unexpected day off on Wednesday; I've discovered that grief and fibromyalgia is a potent, and quite miserable, combination!

Let's get to more fun things - planning wardrobes, especially with fall coming! Here in Chicago, we're supposed to have at least a few cool days this week, which is quite early for us; I generally don't expect to wear fall clothes until October, these days...

How seasonal is this next painting?

When I sorted this wardrobe by color, I separated the charcoal grey from the lighter greys - that gives us the numeric illusion that this wardrobe is dominated by red! In fact, it's still pretty close - there's a LOT of red in this wardrobe. But that's what the heroine intended, ... View the Post

September 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Part 1

September 2, 2024

This month feels like a new start for many of us - back to school and all that. In France, they call it "la rentrée" - the re-entry. Everybody's back from vacation and ready for the return of autumn...

So I'm going to look at these wardrobe with a few minutes of simple analysis, before I just tear off shopping with our various heroines!

Let's start with this most difficult (for me) wardrobe, based on a cheery and always interesting painting:

Five accent colors! Pastels AND brights! So not my style... which is great, right?

Just looking at this, I feel like this heroine might want to look for more green, orange or pink...

And let's see what she has, separated by function:

She ... View the Post

July 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – Part 1

July 1, 2024

And just like that, the year is half over! We're past the longest day of the year, if not the hottest... Change is the only thing upon which we can rely, but it still never ceases to surprise!

Our first heroine is being very intelligent, careful and disciplined this month...

Her painting inspiration is this:

And the very complete and coherent wardrobe with which she starts the month is this:

With these accessories:

Even though I haven't worn navy since (literally) the 80s, I could cheerfully toss all of this into a bag and travel for a long, long time...

Our heroine looks at what she has - very carefully - and realizes that she owns neither a simple navy & white tee shirt, nor a pair of ... View the Post