(99) Wispy
I used two light sources to accentuate the subtle layering in this dress. It is constructed from layers of gauze that allow it to drape in a light, floating "Great Gatsby-movie" sort of way. (Where's Robert Redford when you need him?)
"The designers have forgotten that there are women inside the dresses. Most women dress for men and want to be admired. But they must also be able to move, to get into a car without bursting their seams! Clothes must have a natural shape"...Coco Chanel

(98) Shimmer
8 x 16, oil
~Love the fluid quality of this fabric. Painting the iridescent sheen was intriguing, and one of the things "on my list" to explore in paint.
"I don't design clothes. I design dreams"...Ralph Lauren

(97) Swish...
8 x 16, oil
(Swish is the sound the tulle in this dress makes when I wear it)...I have read that many artists throughout history, including Degas and Sargeant, placed costumes on mannequins in order to study how the fabric hangs and better understand how to sketch and paint fabric folds. And, in the case of figure or portrait paintings, sometimes the clothing could be painted from the mannequin first--then the client would wear the costume for the remainder of the portrait sitting, thereby reducing the amount of time the client had to pose. Brilliant.
"Isn't elegance forgetting what one is wearing?"...Yves Saint Laurent

(96) Favorite LBD
8 x 16, oil
private collection
I chose a different canvas size for this one (8 x 16) that I feel is perfect for the elongated subject. In order to post it to the blog, I photographed it on a neutral square background (so the gray on each side is not actually part of the painting itself)
Coco Chanel introduced the little black dress in 1926 and it is still a fashion staple 82 years later. "One is never over or under dressed in a little black dress"....Karl Lagerfield (from the house of Chanel)

(95) My Mother's Hat
6 x 6, oil
private collection
"Half the interest of a garden is the constant exercise of the imagination. You are always living three, or indeed, six month hence. I believe people entirely devoid of imagination can never be really good gardeners"...Alice Morse Earle, 1897
(I am stepping away from the easel to spend time with family for a couple of days. Wherever you are, I hope you enjoy YOUR weekend~FCP)

(94) 50's Fashion
6 x 8, oil
This is a favorite hat that I found at a vintage shop--a Gwenn Pennington creation that is stunning from any angle.
"Fashions fade, style is eternal"...Yves Saint Laurent

(93) Fanfare
6 x 6, oil
I love these colors together, the hat is an old favorite.
"You can flirt with a fan in your hand. You can flirt with a cigarette, too. But you can really flirt with a hat"...Delores Foster

(92) Tribute to Audrey
6 x 6, oil
private collection
"If a woman rebels against high-heeled shoes, she should take care to do it in a very smart hat"...George Bernard Shaw

(91) MLK Day
6 x 6, oil
private collection
As a young girl, I was inspired by Dr. King's grace, courage, wisdom, and vigilant dedication to fighting poverty and encouraging peaceful solutions. He issued a challenge to people of all races and backgrounds to act, and he is one of the reasons I became a member of the ONE Campaign, an organization dedicated to making poverty history in our lifetime.
This eloquent message of peace and hope dates back 40 years, but it is just as applicable and timely today:
"We will not build a peaceful world by following a negative path. It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. We must concentrate not merely on the negative expulsion of war but on the positive affirmation of peace. We must see that peace represents a sweeter music, a cosmic melody, that is far superior to the discords of war. Somehow we must transform the dynamics of the world power struggle from the negative nuclear arms race, which no one can win, to a positive contest to harness humanity's creative genius for the purpose of making peace and prosperity a reality for all the nations of the world. In short we must shift the arms race into a peace race. If we have a will-and determination- to mount such a peace offensive, we will unlock hitherto tightly sealed doors of hope and transform our imminent cosmic elegy into a psalm of creative fulfillment"
...Martin Luther King, Jr.

(90) Platforms
6 x 8, oil
"What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin more beautiful than the garment with which it is clothed?"
...Michelangelo

(89) Vogue
6 x 6, oil
I found several of these mannequins a few years ago and have enjoyed using them to display my hat collection. Today, I discovered that one could also be the perfect model for painting. I didn't have to worry about her getting sleepy, shifting positions, or requiring a break. And not once did her boyfriend call on her cellphone. Priceless.
"I used to be Snow White, but I drifted"...Mae West

(88) Opera Gloves
6 x 6, oil
"Over the years, I have learned that what is important in a dress is the woman who is wearing it"...Yves Saint Laurent

(87) Spring Fever
6 x 6, oil
Outside it is a dreary, cold, rainy January morning...but wear your shades in my studio, honey, because it is spring in here!
"To me, eyewear goes way beyond being a prescription. It is like make-up. It is the most incredible accessory. The shape of the frame or the color of lenses can change your whole appearance"...Vera Wang

(86) Derby Hat
6 x 6, oil
"Life is like a new hat. You don't know if it suits you if you keep trying it on in front of your own mirror"... Shirley Maclaine

(85) Red Hot, Baby!
6 x 6, oil
I started out painting "girl stuff" with the plan to switch subjects after a week, but here I am two weeks into it, and (a) I have lots more stuff and (b) I find the challenges of painting satin, velvet and animal prints, as well the decisions involved in rendering metal and glass (in the lipsticks and nail polish) to be most informative, demanding, and interesting. Before I started the daily-painting challenge, I sat down and listed over 200 subjects that I wanted to study in paint. One such challenge was sheer fabric, which I attempted above. Can you tell that some of the scarf is sheer, and other parts are overlapped?
A lot of daily-painters opt to paint the same fruits and vegetables for months or even years at a time. And, while I see the merit in choosing a subject to study in depth; I would miss the challenges and painting decisions that a variety of subjects demands (plus, I would lose my mind)--which reminds me of a great scene from one of my all-time favorite movies "The Four Seasons" (written and directed by the brilliant Alan Alda) in which Nick explains how boring his wife, and his life, have become. He tells his friend Jack about his wife's obsession with photographing the same vegetables over and over..."For a year and a half, all we talked about was zucchini. Then, for another year it was green peppers. That was a nice change..."

(84) The Line-Up
private collection
6 x 8, oil
"Fashion fades. Only style remains the same"...Coco Chanel

(83) Bling
6 x 6, oil
"Zest is the secret of beauty. There is no beauty that is attractive without zest"...Christian Dior

(82) Heart of Gold
6 x 6, oil
"Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary"...Sir Cecil Beaton, fashion photographer

(81) Go for the Gold
6 x 6, oil
"I am inspired by the movement and rhythm of the seasons, by the search for newness, the diversity and breadth of possibilities of what someone would like in a variety of worlds"...Ralph Lauren

(80) Basking in the Glow
6 x 6, oil
""The best thing is to look natural, but it takes makeup to look natural"...Calvin Klein