Start with Art Archives - Page 12 of 61

July 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2: Pines by the Sea by Bertha Lum

July 2, 2025

The question of accent colors is one that comes up a lot in my emails - how much is enough? Can it just be scarves and jewelry, or do I have to have clothing in my accent colors? I hate bright shoes - do I HAVE to have accent shoes?

Whatever makes you happy is enough. Your accent colors can be whatever you like to have in your wardrobe. You NEVER have to have shoes you don't like. If you own something you don't like, SELL IT. Or give it away, whatever, but don't EVER make yourself wear things you don't like. (yes, bridesmaid dresses will trip up many of us at some time...)

Here's our painting:

To me, the teal in the trees keeps this painting from being just another insipid ocean landscape...

When our heroine ... View the Post

July 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1: Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

July 1, 2025

July??? I'm sort of amazed. You would think that I would adjust to the passage of time, after a few years...

Remember - there will be posts every weekday this week, and on both Monday and Tuesday next week. Because these posts for the paintings aren't very big, I give you lots of them all in a row!

Let's jump into this perfectly perfect summer painting:

So many of us have been living with ridiculously hot weather for a while, so it was easy to get into the mood to get this heroine some true summer clothes!

I cheated just a bit on the Weekly Timeless Wardrobe; I'm calling the striped tee shirt "sleeveless" when of course it isn't! But our heroine already has all of her tee shirts, and I felt ... View the Post

Like the Idea of Your Painting, But Having Trouble With the Colors? Start With Art – Pink and Black by Ed Clark

June 23, 2025

Another conference? (She did this before.) As the trailing spouse? What an absolutely horrible term...

But she's going, and she will be beautiful. She has the best inspiration; this is one of her favorite paintings, by her favorite artist:

But she's feeling uncertain... her favorite pink clothes are NOT this shade of pink. Does this matter?

After thinking for a few minutes, our heroine realized that unless she carried a big reproduction of the painting around with her and pointed out to people how badly the shades of pink clashed, nobody would ever know. She can put it out of her mind, if she tries!

So she's preparing for the "weird meet and greet/maybe go out to dinner with people they know" arrival. The ... View the Post

Want to Mix Your Neutrals? Start With Art – Green, Gold & Blue Painting by Susan Krause

June 20, 2025

Hold your loved ones close, and TELL THEM YOU LOVE THEM. One of our friends here in The Vivienne Files readership has lost their partner, and in this time of her grief, we should all remember how fortunate we are to have each day - each moment - with those we love. JR

Many of us fall into the easiest pattern imaginable - every few months, we buy a new outfit (which of course all goes together beautifully!) in one of our favorite neutrals. Today's heroine is inspired by this painting, which gives her a lovely range of possibilities:

She's spent some time admiring this work, and has determined that these are the colors that she sees there. These colors are pretty obvious, but what's maybe more important is that she ... View the Post

Want a Touch of Brown with Your Chambray? Tullynally Castle Corridor & Window by Hector McDonnell

June 16, 2025

She goes away a LOT of weekends in the summer. Many of her friends have places on lakes or the seashore, or in a forest near a lake... And she must be an excellent guest, because she's always invited somewhere!

This is one of her favorite paintings:

She always feels like the window at the end of the hall is crooked!

Her colors that she's isolated from the painting are shown here; she doesn't include the tiny touches of red, but she does wear a good red lipstick sometimes...

She usually leaves for her friend's home straight from work - she's close to the train station when she's in her office! She dresses simply, but with a cardigan to battle the office air-conditioning.

She doesn't ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #6 – The Swan No. 24 by Hilma Af Klint

June 9, 2025

Our last painting for June - this enigmatic, entrancing, beautifully-colored masterpiece:

This heroine's wardrobe is interesting - nothing much at all for WINTER????

You could die in Chicago...

But that's not what we'll work on right now.

This heroine has decided to toss in just a couple more pure white garments; for hot weather, there's not much better. A couple of pretty sleeveless tops, some gold accessories, and summer's here!

Focused shopping for the season!

This is another wardrobe that would be useful and appropriate for just about any time and place:

And I love her accessories! I'm keeping my eyes peeled for more scarves, and she really could use a necklace or two, and a ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #5 – Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay

June 6, 2025

Such a favorite scene, and a wonderful painting!

Our heroine woke up one morning in early June to realize that Summer WILL come this year, albeit quite late. And she doesn't have a ton of warm-weather clothes, yet.

She's got 2 pairs of sandals, so she needn't worry too much about that. So she goes ahead to grab three sleeveless tops, early in the season while there are still sizes available. And of course her shorts are going to be the same neutral that she uses for so many linen-ish and cotton-y garments for warm weather!

She's still missing quite a few items for hot weather, but she's made a very good start!

Now, her 28-piece wardrobe looks as if it would serve her for most seasons of the year. ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #4 – Street Lights by Stefan Johansson

June 5, 2025

This painting is really starting to grow on me; it's certainly NOT colors that I usually wear, but the image itself is stunning. Anyone who can paint lights, water, and reflections impresses me!

At the end of May, our heroine had clothes from each season of the year, which makes sense. As with all of the wardrobes this month, we're going to try to fill in some gaps!

If you're ever going to wear sleeveless tops, right now is the time to buy them! Nice swishy pants for warmer weather are a good choice too. And thinking of cold weather (and price increases) to come, our heroine treats herself to an ivory cashmere turtleneck. For some of us, this is the kind of purchase that could last the rest of our lives! Good ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #3 – Pines by the Sea by Bertha Lum

June 4, 2025

I love this painting - I imagine living somewhere with changing seasons, but nothing too drastic. (maybe Ireland?) Soft knits and soft colors...

This heroine has a pretty good handle on her various seasonal garments, but she's going to try to stick to filling in her template. As always, I remind you that this list is a guideline and NOT a rule. For example, if you never wear dresses or skirts, you're going to have to change at LEAST the bottom row of garments...

And that's as it should be; you should personalize any guidelines to suit what you most love. It's YOUR wardrobe, after all.

A tank top and shorts in one of your neutrals is always a wise purchase for hot weather! A perfect accent color polo shirt is ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #2 – Sun, Water Maine by Georgia O’Keeffe

June 3, 2025

Every month, I look at this painting and think that this would be how I would dress if I was starting from scratch (well, the wardrobe based on this painting or on the Eiffel Tower by Robert Delaunay!)

Navy appeals more and more, beige is timeless, and blue/green accents call my name. But at this point in life, I'm NOT re-doing my wardrobe! Sometimes you just have to admire the painting and the clothes, and stick with what's worked for you for the past 40 years...

So let's admire the lovely colors and fluid, relaxed lines of this masterpiece:

This heroine is also going to try to stick to her Weekly Timeless Wardrobe for a while, when shopping. At the end of May, her garments fitted into the template like ... View the Post

June 2025 Six Paintings – 12 Months #1 – Of by Elizabeth Magill

June 2, 2025

Remember, there will be a blog post EVERY weekday this week. The first week of the month is when I always push out all six of the "Six Paintings - 12 Months" posts over six weekdays. I feel like these posts benefit from being seen close together - what do you say?

The more I look at this painting, the more I like it! There's really quit a lot going on here to admire:

This month, I'm feeling like I need to be really organized for all SORTS of things, and that's going to show up with these wardrobes! I think we're going to start with each heroine's Weekly Timeless Wardrobe list, and try to very logically fill in four items that are missing.

I'm not at all sure that any of these wardrobes will, in December, have a ... View the Post

Building a Wardrobe Gradually? Start With Art – Abstraction Blue by Georgia O’Keeffe

May 30, 2025

We've visited this painting twice before, with our heroine who has the lucky habit of dashing into the city for a last-minute date! Opera, or maybe ballet or orchestra - the opera season doesn't last all year, sadly...

First, she was headed to a ballet matinee on January, and then in March they were able to snag some opera tickets!

In all cases, she packs her tote bag full of beautiful things based on this color palette:

Back in January, she used a navy cardigan/skirt/pants trio as her core, upon which she added four tops:

When our heroine considered what she might add to her bag if they decided to stay in the city for a few more days:

In March, when they went to the opera, this is what ... View the Post