Costume shopping

Yesterday I thought I had better get over to the framer to see about ordering a frame for the portrait of the little girl. I would like to have this portrait hanging as a sample at the group show I’ll be in on January 31st. Sometimes my framer needs to order the frame stock from out of town, but he can get most everything in 2 or 3 days. Anyway . . . on the way to the framer I thought it would be fun to make a little detour and look for costumes for models I paint.

Yesterday I painted a lovely woman in a tai chi outfit and that inspired me to go searching for other interesting clothes for models to wear. I drove over to the Salvation Army and had the best time! I spent an hour browsing through hundred of clothes, I was like a kid in a candy store. How could I not be when nothing was priced over $12.99? Most of the clothes there were just ordinary clothes, and worn well at that, and some verrrrry outdated. But I did manage to put together a peasant-girl type outfit (the skirt and vest with blousy white shirt). And I found a red velvet dress with an empire waist that looks like something a character in a Jane Austen novel would wear. I also saw a shapeless dress with polka dots and I’ve been wanting to paint polka dots so I grabbed that. The other shirt is hard to see but is a pretty halter with an Asian influence – so much so that I can’t read the Chinese (?) letters on the tag. I also found a couple of other items which didn’t make it into my backyard photo shot, but you get the idea. And all these, I think 8 items, for under $30. Oh, did I mention Wednesday was half price day? That was a nice surprise too. Now when a model comes to class or one of my painting sessions with friends and she’s wearing a t-shirt, I’ll have some options for her.

I never did make it to the framer.