Art Archives - Page 29 of 63

April Travel: Start with Art – Between Breath and the River 4 by Susan Osgood

April 5, 2019

Remember our friend the flooding expert? She's very busy...

This is her art inspiration, and her wardrobe color palette:

She's traveling to the Midwest United States, to help determine where bulldozing or other changes in the immediate terrain might help clear standing water from some flood areas. She's studied the maps, and thinks that she knows what her suggestions will be. If her map analysis is correct, she only expects to be on-site for a day or two...

Still, she's not sure if she's going to have to actually go out and SEE any of the locations in question. (there's one that spot she really feels that she should visit in order to be exact about her plan for drainage...)

So she's going to have shorts, ... View the Post

Start with Art: Undergrowth by Vincent van Gogh

March 27, 2019

I love van Gogh... These colors are so perfect for spring and summer:

She Hasn't A Clue... Well, that's strictly not true - she knows that she has to wear clothing to the wedding, and that it won't be ballgowns, nor jeans. Other than that, the invitation was maddeningly vague...

So... she's taking a couple of dresses - there's a chance that she's going to the rehearsal dinner (more of that vagueness that makes this such a headache), so she will wear 1 for the dinner, and 1 to the wedding. Maybe.

At least she knows exactly what she's wearing for the drive to the hotel - her favorite new green!

She's not, in fact, all that worried about what she's going to wear. She's got plenty of options, from a nice ... View the Post

Can a “Color” be a Neutral? Start with Art: Double Vision 1974 by Edwina Sandys

March 22, 2019

Someone mentioned it a few days ago - if you plan well, you could use a "color" as a neutral. Of course I had to see how that might work!

And I've got a fondness for this artist's work, so it seemed an opportune time to use this as an inspiration for a very fun-loving heroine:

"If We All Chip In... We can rent the big house up at the shore... At least a handful of us could be there almost any weekend. And since it's so big, we can leave some things up there for the summer, so we could even go at the last minute!"

A compelling argument, and she agreed immediately. The chance to spend the weekends at the shore, instead of in the city, was pretty persuasive, and to spend that time with her friends made it even ... View the Post

Start with Art: View from Bodacke, Liden by Helmer Osslund

March 20, 2019

This reminded her immediately of the site of their cabin:

So much so that she decided to make this her wardrobe inspiration for their upcoming weekends away!

This summer, she's going to plan out a simple, small, but versatile wardrobe, take it up to the cabin, and LEAVE IT THERE until they close up for cold weather! She knows that she might need to take something else with her at some point, but she's determined to avoid the "every Thursday night" packing that inevitably results in something being forgotten...

So she's planning a 4 by 4 Wardrobe, starting with "hedge green."

Next, she wants some beige. She's lucky that it looks pretty good on her - if it didn't, she would either swap the 2 ... View the Post

Start with Art: Grey Fireworks by Helen Frankenthaler

March 11, 2019

She's running for office... Not a big office, nothing that will require travel beyond an hour's drive from her home in order to campaign. But she's serious about it! This is what she's using to help her focus her campaign wardrobe...

She enrolled in a 3-day workshop for women running for office... And she's going to use this trip as her dress-rehearsal for some of her campaign outfits!

She's taken a close look at other women who are running for office, and she's noticed that some of them wear a very neutral "core" outfit (often black tops and pants) with accent jackets... She's going to emulate this idea, using dark grey as her neutral, and 4 accent colors taken from her favorite painting.

Since she ... View the Post

Start with Art: From the Lake by Georgia O’Keeffe

March 9, 2019

Planning a wardrobe with mostly neutrals doesn't mean that your wardrobe will be predictable...

Let's start with this most wonderful painting:

It's pretty simple - we can start with the same neutral clothes that we used a few days ago...

Ah, but the accent pieces are quite different. One of the neat things here is that this heroine could have 5 neutrals... the brown and the grey would both be excellent secondary wardrobe neutrals, don't you think?

This wardrobe feels very different to me than the earlier version with bright accents:

I've kept the silver earrings, and then added in brown and aqua...

Same with the bracelets - her neutrals are still perfect for her wardrobe, but ... View the Post

Choosing Accessories to go with a Blue and Grey Travel Wardrobe (for Ireland!)

March 4, 2019

It's all well and good to have your clothes sorted for a trip, but you really MUST pack accessories. Not necessarily all that much stuff, but some shoes are critical, as well as a few more odds and ends...

As a reminder, this is the photograph that was inspiring us, and the color scheme that we were using:

You've got to have shoes - there aren't terribly many places you can go and NOT need shoes... Even though the dress shoes aren't as important as hiking shoes, let's start here anyway!

If you're not going to do hard-core hiking, you might adjust your choice of hiking shoes to be something a little bit less rugged, but it always makes sense to have something very comfortable for lots of ... View the Post

Trying to Forecast Weather – Packing for May in Ireland!

February 25, 2019

Honestly, if I could tell you with any degree of certainty what the weather is going to be in May in Ireland, I would be doing something to make a fortune, like buying penny stocks and selling them for millions of dollars. The weather requires that level of omniscient genius!

But you can be strategic, right? Let's start with a beautiful photograph of an Ireland shore, to help define a color palette:

Okay, time for strategy. First, you can't take ALL of your wardrobe with you, so you have to make some smart choices. If we accept that it's not possible to pack for every possible kind of weather, I submit that it's smarter (in the spring and summer) to carry with you clothes for cooler weather, working with the ... View the Post

Winter Travel: Pilgrim of the Absolute by Brian Fahlstrom

February 18, 2019

She helps to plan the logistics for tours of pilgrims - those who wish to walk one of the many pilgrimage routes in Europe. They do the walking, but she and her staff make certain that they have lovely hotels, good meals, and a "sag wagon" to carry all of their bags (and the pilgrims themselves, if the walking proves too much!)

It's work she takes seriously; these individuals have in many cases saved for years to make these pilgrimages, and she respects their commitment and sacrifice.

She doesn't fully understand this painting, but she was drawn to the title, and captivated by the colors:

So for her travels this year, she's decided that this is going to be her inspiration and her color palette:

Her ... View the Post

Winter Travel: Knitting a Stocking by Sir Francis Grant

February 13, 2019

She's thoroughly high-tech... She sells software. In her dreams, this might be her life:

But right now, she doesn't sit by the fire all that often! Still, she was smitten with this image, and thus it became the inspiration for her wardrobe palette:

Yes, five colors in a wardrobe might be difficult. But one of the qualities that our heroine most loves about herself is her ability to make things that everyone believes to be complicated into simple, straightforward projects...

Yes, she loves the poncho over her cardigan - she doesn't live in an area with horrible winter weather... It gives her a lovely layered look that seems complicated, but really isn't all that...

For a woman who ... View the Post

Packing Accessories for a Cruise, in a Navy, Blush, Grey and White Travel Capsule Wardrobe

February 6, 2019

Monday we chose some clothes for our heroine to pack on a springtime cruise to Italy and the islands near there; we used this lovely painting as our inspiration:

We left her with these clothes:

So let's start with shoes! They're always the most difficult thing to pack - they take up a ton of space, and they make a great deal of difference in the appearance of an outfit. Dress shoes especially...

The dresses she is packing - and the navy skirt - can be worn with any of the 2nd layers. The lace jacket is quite dressy, and of course the denim jacket is quite casual. What shoes will work?

(of course, lots of tops can be worn with the navy skirt - I'm just using the navy top for illustrative ... View the Post

Packing for a Spring Cruise, with some Inspiration from Caillebotte

February 4, 2019

Lots of you go on cruises! And right now, my mail box reflects that; anticipation is running wild in at least a few minds right now...

So how about a spring cruise in Italy and the near islands? The temperatures might reach into the 70s Fahrenheit, and evenings will be in the 60s. Right now, that sounds SO appealing!

I picked this painting to inspire us, although it is from a French artist, and has nothing to do with cruises... but it's lovely, and I find this woman getting dressed feels very... hmmm... romantic and evocative to me.

And yes, I suspect that her skirt is indeed black, but this wardrobe is built around navy, so I'm fudging that a bit. You could certainly use black here, or a wide range of shades of ... View the Post