Start with Art Archives - Page 2 of 23

Passion Flower with Hummingbirds by Martin Johnson Heade – Inspiring a Tote Bag Travel Capsule Wardrobe

Quiet.... It's just the way she is...

She appreciates peace. Tranquility. Simple pleasures that don't involve amplification...

Which is not to say that she's boring - just that if you're going to see the interesting things, you might have to look a little while!

Her color palette is mostly muted, with a single bright accent of geranium pink... She shops with incredible patience to stay true to her long-standing preferences!

When she travels, she doesn't need much. Because everything she owns suits her to a "T," she can be contented with just the necessities and a few lovely accessories...

A long time ago she heard a phrase - maybe in an advertisement? - that said that "if you want to capture someone's attention, whisper." ... View the Post

Fonds Marins by Lee Ungno – Inspiring a Start with Art Tote Bag Travel Wardrobe

They Keep Telling Her That She's an Iconoclast... But she likes to think that she just knows what she likes!

She likes black and white, and she likes pastels...

She likes linen shirts, untucked!

She loves scarves, and bracelets...

She likes to travel light...

She likes to carry a handbag in an unexpected color!

She's comfortable mixing pastel colors...

She's comfortable wearing multiple shades of blue...

But she would NEVER break an icon - they're works of art!

love, Janice ... View the Post

Study in Verticals (The Cathedral) by Frantisek Kupka – Start with Art for a Tote Bag Business Travel Capsule

She Never Knows...

They send her out for as the mediator for meetings - sometimes between really big, powerful clients - and she never knows what the experience will be...

She tries, when she arrives, to be a forceful but feminine presence, striking a balance between pushing toward a decision and encouraging compromise. It's a narrow line to walk...

So, even though she's going to be there for only 2 or 3 days, she tries to be prepared for any sort of "personality" that she needs to bring to the table...

She tries to travel light, but offer herself a lot of options!

Happily, she finds these adjustments pretty easy, because she's a woman of many facets...

love, Janice ... View the Post

Flowers in a Crystal Vase by Edouard Manet – Inspiration for Tote Bag Travel

You're a Soil Conservation Engineer?

"I can't imagine spending all of my time working with dirt!"

It's SOIL, not dirt...

"It just doesn't seem like there would be that much to do - it's dirt! It's all over the ground! What else is there to know?"

Well, keeping it all from washing away into rivers, and thus into the ocean, is a good start...

"And you're going on a business trip? What can there possibly be to talk about? Dirt isn't really that interesting..."

But new ways to conserve and enrich soil can be fascinating, and it's always great to be able to spend some time with people who share you passion for the SOIL...

"Something that's really hard for me to understand - this just doesn't seem like a very... feminine... line of ... View the Post

Shallow Deep by Wassily Kandinsky – Start with Art for a Travel Capsule Wardrobe

20 Sixth Graders in New York City... Yes, she's completely insane! (if she isn't, she will be by the end of the weekend...)

What's puzzling to all of the other teachers (and the parents!) is how she makes it all look so simple, and so much FUN...

She's always bright and cheery, in both her demeanor and her wardrobe... Comfortable, but still fun and appropriate.

Her clothes always have a touch of color that makes it easy to spot her in a crowd. In New York, that might be useful...

Nobody seems to notice what a tight system she has for her travel wardrobe...

Although they're only going to be there for 2 nights (2 REALLY long nights...), she likes to have plenty of options. Accidents will happen, especially with this ... View the Post

Trojan Gates by Helen Frankenthaler – Start with Art for Tote Bag Travel

Le Mot Juste* They never give awards to the translator...

Yes, it had been a particularly difficult project...

And as always, she took great pride in putting in the time and effort necessary to find the perfect word - the one that conveyed not just the meaning, but also... the nuance. The subtlety. The suggestions, and hints, and overtones that were apparent in the original language.

That's just the way she is. Others can settle for what falls to hand quickly and easily, for the "it will do fine" way of working. That's not her style...

(a close look at her travel earrings will show you just HOW much she looks for subtleties...)

She was surprised to be invited to the awards dinner; it's a quite informal evening, but it's still an ... View the Post

L’Oiseau Forestier by Max Ernst – Starting a Wardrobe with a Tote Bag Travel Capsule

Assertiveness, Channeled

"Why is SHE going?"

"Well, she was just named chief negotiator - didn't you hear?"

"She IS? She always seems so... ladylike... I don't see her as the arm-wrestling for the last dime kind of negotiator..."

"Don't get me wrong - I know that she's as smart as a whip..."

"Shouldn't she be wearing some serious pantsuit with shoulders out to HERE?"

"She doesn't even wear blazers!!!"

always trust the jealous rivals to focus on how you dress, eh?

As in all things, the details matter...

If anybody ever troubled to look, they would see that her jewelry looks like the weapons and body-armor of a Barbie-sized warrior race... Even her oh-so-trendy flower brooch is black! She channels her aggression ... View the Post

Paysage de Neige by Renoir – Start with Art to Assemble a Weekend Capsule Wardrobe

It isn't what you think of when you think of Renoir - which is good! Expanding your horizons is never wrong...

Quiet...

She was smitten with the painting from the first time she saw it. Others looked at it and saw cold, or sunshine, or the homes in the distance. She saw peace, quiet, silence... And that's what she craves!

"You know that there won't be anybody there... You'll probably have to eat all of your meals by yourself!"

Oh, she knows....

"I guess you probably got an amazingly good deal on your room - they'll be so grateful that there's anybody there that they'll give you the best room in the hotel dirt cheap..."

Why are her friends so obsessed with "anybody?" And is it wrong to want a little solitude?

"What fun ... View the Post

Build a Weekend Capsule Wardrobe by Starting with Art: Blue by Kinuko Imai Hoffman

The first of the "12 Art Works of Christmas!" wardrobes - not the only time I'm going to look at this painting, though. I think I'll revisit this one every 3 months or so to expand the wardrobe to all seasons...

Frankly, any paintings by this artist would be amazing sources of inspiration for a wardrobe - if you see anything that strikes your fancy, let me know!

Creative Austerity

She's always believed that the truly creative people were the ones who could do something original within strict guidelines...

This inspires her:

The possibilities are vast, just with these 2 shades, and a bit of texture... Maybe the occasional pattern... Anybody can wear orange tights, a green skirt and a purple sweater and stand on the street corner and ... View the Post

The Twelve Art Works of Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all of those who are celebrating today, and a warm and wonderful day to everyone!

Today I've got 12 works of art for you - 11 paintings and 1 pretty amazing photograph, along with color palettes, and a sense of how the colors might be made to work in a wardrobe.

I've chosen almost all "modern" works of art - for what we do here on The Vivienne Files, I need to have a relatively limited color palette. Paintings that are completely realistic tend to have every color of the rainbow in them, and THAT would make a carefully edited wardrobe almost impossible!

So, if you have time, and if you have an opinion (or 12!), tell me if you'd like to see any of these developed into a wardrobe. If you've a preference for warm weather ... View the Post

Can You Build a Casual Wardrobe from a “Dressy” Work of Art? Water Lilies by Monet

As much as the dressy wardrobe based on Monet's Water Lilies was a lot of fun, most of us don't dress quite like that on a regular basis!

So our heroine, who was so overwhelmed with invitations through the holiday season, decided to build an entire 4 by 4 Wardrobe around her favorite art inspiration, to take her through the rest of the winter...

One day when she was racing around shopping for holiday gifts, she realized that the outfit that she was wearing would fit perfectly into her "dream" color scheme; it has the right colors, as well as a floral watch and scarf, and some very "fluid" earrings:

She had been really organized when she built her holiday party wardrobe, so she thought that staying with a plan would make sense! Random ... View the Post

Can I Use Monet’s Water Lilies as an Inspiration for my Evening Wardrobe?

Shall we do some fantasy shopping?

She wanted to feel like this when she went out in the evenings:

Right after Thanksgiving, she received a couple of invitations, and so she assembled a simple capsule wardrobe to wear to those evenings. She gave herself options from relatively casual to kind of frilly and dressy:

Well... One morning she woke up to an In-Box FULL of invitations... So she looked back to her inspiration, and added four more pieces to her little "evening" wardrobe:

Somehow, she had completely forgotten that she was ALSO going to have to make at least a couple of appearances as the "better half" of her household... She could have been reminded by someone, but NOOOO.....

With 4 pairs of pants in hand, a few tops will ... View the Post