Unveiling #36: “Little Black Dress”

Well, this was my most successful piece yet in this challenge!!! …and against the backdrop of last week’s ‘furthest from my goal’ painting, it is all the more sweet! I purposed to use the discouragement I felt last week to propel me forward this week, so I decided to give myself a time limit for my challenge. I knew this might need to get tweaked a bit, but I set a 2 hour limit to create this piece. It took 4. Smile. The reason being that the drawing alone took me more time than I thought. Since I want my drawings to be accurate, but the brushwork loose and the paint less layered, I plan to give myself a time limit again next week, but only for painting…not for drawing. Another thing I am doing to help keep me on track is to surround myself with artists’ work which reflects the looseness and ‘freshness’ that I want to attain in my own work…and ultimately, in my approach.

The inspiration for “Little Black Dress” came from my love for fashion. I’ve been cleaning out a lot of my clothes lately in preparation of changing my closet over to my fall/winter clothes. I’ve always admired designers’ fashion sketches for their looseness, and thought it’d make for the perfect challenge this week. I designed this dress as I went along, but now that it’s done, it looks more like an apron than a dress to me. Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t become a fashion designer!

I am laughing as I think about a comment my friend made to me about all I share with you each week. She was laughing as she said, “I love how you talk and explain things to us (artistically speaking…especially about watercolors) like you think we know what you’re talking about!! That just cracks me up as hindsight, I am sure there is a lot of truth to that! I wish I could sit down and have a hot drink with each of you to explain better what is in this artist’s head and heart. Nonetheless, whether you are tracking with my every word or scratching your head each week, I just want to thank you for sticking with me along this journey to freedom. Your company and support have meant everything to me.

If you missed my post which explains this year-long challenge, please read You’re Invited To The Unveilings.