John Nash - Lane Near Wormingford Archives

December 2024 “Six Paintings, Twelve Months” – 6th Painting, by John Nash

December 9, 2024

I'm leaving for Paris on Wednesday unless something happens to hold me back. I haven't been to Paris in five years, which for me feels like half my life... I plan to have posts here for you while I'm away, but bear in mind that I won't be able to fix stupid mistakes - or smart mistakes! Love, J

Our last installment of our last heroine, assembling a wardrobe that holds a strange appeal to me - the soft earthiness of these colors would be such a comfort each morning...

This heroine, as is true with all of them, currently has 48 garments in her wardrobe. For most of the world, that's an embarrassment of riches! And - if well chosen - most of us could probably manage with this:

Of course, I SHOULD have been ... 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 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 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

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

August 5, 2024

Thanks for all of the kind and loving comments on Friday; these kinds of things keep me going...

I'm coming to realize, as I look at the 32-piece wardrobes with which we start this month, that 32 pieces of clothing is really quite a lot! I don't believe that I've worn 32 things so far this summer! These wardrobe will very neatly finish up with 52 pieces of clothing; does that seem like plenty, just right, or far too few?

Let's get to it!

Here's the 32 piece wardrobe with which our heroine starts August. Next month, I'm going to break these images out into at least two different ones, so that we can see things more clearly! This is akin to having a messy closet, or having clothes stored in a couple of different ... View the Post

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

July 3, 2024

Let's drop in on our other three heroines... First up, my second-favorite wardrobe, maybe....

Ah, there was a day when I would have worn the daylights out of this wardrobe:

And the accessories... sigh...

For no good reason that she can identify, this heroine found herself (1) wanting some grey, calm, almost inconspicuous clothing, and (2) wanted to grab some of the good winter things now that it's JULY and they're starting to arrive in stores...

seriously, if there's something for which you particularly hanker for the winter, start looking soon...

L.L.Bean is where she found herself, and this is what she chose:

How can you resist a scarf that reminds you of your favorite painting?

Her new ... View the Post

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

June 5, 2024

Today's three heroines went three very interesting, different directions in their wardrobes - all of them valid!

Let's start with Rothko, who is fast becoming one of my very favorite artists:

Our first heroine has a wardrobe that feels like it has a lot of accent color in it, although it's not a huge percentage of the whole (37.5% to be exact) ...

And she has gloriously pretty accessories:

But for June, she felt like settling into some neutrals - especially a workhorse pair of black linen pants. (these should be worn at least weekly until the first frost...)

She also decided to go ahead and buy a cashmere hooded sweatshirt - yes, she might have grabbed a cotton one instead, but this feels more like ... View the Post

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

May 3, 2024

I'm really quite happy with the way these three wardrobes turned out this month - as always, I'm eager to hear what you think of our progress!

First, this oh so elegant painting:

Her wardrobe at the end of April was practical and versatile, if a bit short on the color rust! I get infinite pleasure from that stack of four long-sleeved tee shirts...

It seemed obvious to look for rust - at least rust tops. A second pair of shorts (which could of course be a skirt, a pair of cropped pants, or long pants) and lightweight linen pants finish up her garment purchases. While we were in the "rust mode," Our heroine grabbed coordinating accessories too!

If you're not familiar with COS, I recommend them highly. ... View the Post

Part 2 – Do You Need Accents? Or Neutrals? 6 Paintings, 12 Months April 2024

April 5, 2024

The second half - I hope you like them as much as you did the first three wardrobes!

First is this subtle, somewhat muted painting...

At the end of March, our heroine didn't have much for olive in her wardrobe! This is excusable though, because she had had some good luck finding the camel that's so predominant in this painting. Sometimes, you add what you an find to your wardrobe, and wait for other things to become available...

So she shopped mostly for green:

Just these three new green garments bring a new balance to her wardrobe, with almost equal distribution among beige, green and black. If she ever runs into a lode of rust, she's going to go a wee bit nuts!

She's quite excited by the ... View the Post

Dressy Weekend? Start with a Scarf – The Raven Garden of Happiness by June Hunter

March 22, 2024

It's a dressy weekend - the weather will probably be warm... but there is always a chance of a cool snap!

But how to be dressy without bringing everything you own? Well, a tight color palette and planning ahead is always the way to go.

And how about starting with black and pretty accents?

Before you go down this path, you want to be ABSOLUTELY certain that wearing black isn't a problem. This wardrobe is actually designed for someone who's a prominent figure in a wedding, at which the bridesmaids will be wearing black dresses; I think she's okay with this!

She's wearing a very "normal" travel outfit - closed-toe shoes, and a cardigan for the inevitable freezing air conditioning... but she's rocking ... View the Post

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

March 1, 2024

Even with the extra day yesterday, I'm still not quite sure that I'm ready for March. But she will arrive regardless of my degree of preparation, right?

After a 50 degree overnight temperature drop, I'm not sure what season we're in, nor what to wear on any given day...

But let's look at art, and the wardrobes intrepid heroines assemble based upon their favorite colors and paintings!

So restful, calm and classic. I could walk for hours down this lane...

At the end of February, our heroine has this 12-piece capsule wardrobe:

As she's thinking about what to add, the burgeoning spring warmth suggests to her that maybe some green would be pretty!

Still a couple of sweaters - warmth doesn't ... View the Post

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

February 2, 2024

I'm always so excited to look at these wardrobes again!

This month, I'm going to clearly establish what has been my method so far - four garments and three accessories. With adding 4 garments each month, coupled with the 4 garments that each heroine started with, we're going to finish the year with 52 garments - sort of like the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe!

It's interesting how these numbers recur...

I understand that a lot of us aren't going to want a 52-piece wardrobe; for many of us, that seems too few, and for some it's going to be too many! But it's nice to have a target in mind, if situations change and we have to reconfigure everything.

Let's go!

In January, our heroine found herself with eight ... View the Post