First, I want thank Sal for starting the July Art Challenge.

I was torn between the Whiteley and the Gauguin. The Whiteley spoke to me because of its depth of beauty and color scheme, which closely matches my own color palette. It would be a wonderful exercise in coordinating black with navy.

However, I wondered if that would be too easy. I seriously considered the Gauguin as my inspiration. The Gauguin would force me out of my comfort zone and make me use some less worn pieces of my wardrobe.

I used The Vivienne Files to develop color schemes for both paintings. Below are the two schemes I developed that would work using my existing wardrobe. The first color scheme is more authentic to the painting than the second version. The second color scheme challenges me to a greater degree.

I finally decided on using the Whiteley. The color scheme is more faithful to the painting than the second (i.e., it was a stretch to pull black into the Gauguin color scheme and I don’t own grey work pants).

I didn’t just want to use the color scheme. I wanted to embrace the feeling of the painting in some way. I thought of using rose gold jewelry, but I don’t own any. The white jumped out at me. The bridge, the balcony suggested iron and steel. I decided to focus on sterling silver jewelry. Jewelry with a harder edge than I normally wear. Silver cuffs. Long dangling silver earrings.

Today’s outfit was not what I had intended or hoped. The previous week had been off-the-rails busy. I only had Sunday to catch up on all the errands that had been previously postponed. I started the day with a Weight Watcher’s Weigh-In and then scurried to the gym to get my workout done. That meant black/white so I managed to be true to the color scheme at least.

Later I managed to change into real clothes. I didn’t have time to put on jewelry or give much more consideration to the challenge than that. My ensemble was true to the color scheme, but it certainly did not capture the mood of the painting.

I am wondering what that mood is. I plan on talking to some of my artist friends tomorrow at work. They will understand the mood and help me. It always helps to have friends that have your back.