Shelbee at Shelbee on the Edge is the curator for this round of Style Imitating Art (SIA), and she selected the 1914 painting "Composition in Oval with Color Planes 1" by Dutch artist Piet Mondrian. She says she's been "feel rather abstract lately," which led her to this choice of artwork. I liked that rather than one of his iconic pieces in primary colors, she picked a painting with a gentler pastel color palette for this end-of-summer/start-of-fall transition season.
One thing I liked about it was that it provided the perfect opportunity to wear this summery chambray floral print dress one more time before the cooler weather of autumn began. While the organic nature print on the dress does not align with the geometric shapes of the artwork, the colors were too great a match to resist.
I usually wear this dress with a contrasting color - a t-shirt layered underneath or a cardigan/jacket layered over it - but this time I went with a cardigan in a similar shade of soft blue for a more blended look, which reminded me of how the grey background inside the painting's oval shape continues outside the oval to the edges of the canvas. The vertical lines in the knit also mimic the many vertical lines in the painting.
I continued the "surrounded by the background color" styling to my shoes, selecting a pair of medium blue flats that match the dress.
When it came to my other accessories...well, I just wanted some happy yellow to contrast with the blue. I braided my ombré scarf into a necklace as shown by Jodie here, which is one of my favorite ways to wear a long scarf in summer, especially if I want to rein in the volume and impact. And in this case, I liked that the braid provided some additional geometric integrity to my outfit, with the curved shapes reminiscent of the curves in the painting's upper right. My pendant necklace is a teardrop shape rather than an oval, but it felt similar enough.
My daily bracelet stack is based on a new paper bead bracelet set that I made to coordinate with this dress. I confess that I already had made four other bracelet sets inspired by this dress, but I didn't have one that leaned into the grey and peach colors in the print so I made a fifth one - why not? {stretch bracelet tutorial} {bicone paper bead tutorial}
The top paper bead bracelet with the 0.5" long bicone beads started out as a catalog page showing two floral prints quilted together - one blue-based and one yellow-and-peach-based. I love the somewhat blurred appearance of the final beads; because the print was rather large in scale on the paper, the distinct floral print is lost when the beads are rolled, leaving nebulous areas of color.
The bottom paper bead bracelet with 1" bicone beads has origins that may surprise you because these pages from Coldwater Creek catalogs have no grey in them despite grey being the dominating color of the beads. Well, while I am clearly no Piet Mondrian, my painting skills are just good enough to apply some grey acrylic paint over the text on the paper. (Note: if you are wondering whether your own painting skills are up to the task, ask yourself: can I get paint onto paper in some fashion? If you can say yes, you're in business!)
Paint adds so much great texture to paper beads, and because I applied the paint in an uneven way, some areas of the paint are opaque while others allow glimpses of the underlying text to peek through on the final beads.
I didn't take a photo of myself wearing my new handmade earrings but this is what they look like: yellow wire-wrapped glass beads (sold as links at Fire Mountain Gems) with little silver rubber ducky charms. These earrings have basically nothing to do with the inspiration artwork; I just thought they were cute, matched well with the braided scarf, and added a sweet touch of whimsy to the outfit. (It is literally impossible for me not to play Ernie's rubber ducky song from Sesame Street in my head while looking at these earrings.)
Now for the main event: revealing our Rabbit Imitating Art selection! I noticed that my outfit was quite lacking in black lines to set off the pastel colors, so I made up for it in choosing this gorgeous black Dutch rabbit with the wonderful geometric quality of his fur pattern.
He was even cooperative enough to stand so that his body creates an oval shape replicating the oval in the painting. (I would say "egg-shaped" but sometimes rabbits can be cranky when being reminded too much of their spring-time obligations out of season.) Of course, our rabbit is an oval shape with luxuriant long soft ears and the cutest little delicate feet, which "Composition in Oval with Color Planes 1," for all its artistic qualities, most clearly lacks. But notice how our bunny's attention is being drawn by something outside the frame of this artwork. It makes you wonder what could compare so favorably to Mondrian's oval composition...
Oh, of course - a Mondrian artwork in rabbit form! Her name is Miffy, and she's wearing a dress crocheted in the classic primary color Mondrian geometric print that we all recognize. Very nice!
Speaking of the classic Mondrian primary color geometric print, I astonished myself by finding these photos from when I designed and sewed myself a Mondrian-inspired tank top way back in 2009! I upcycled parts of four old t-shirts putting this together, and I think it turned out pretty spiffy!
Thanks for joining me today for this Style Imitating Art + Rabbit Imitating (and Improving) Art post!
To see other outfit interpretations of this artwork, check out the review on Shelbee on the Edge.
Were you surprised to see a Mondrian painting in pastel hues? Would you have been inspired more by the geometric shapes, the light colors, or both in creating an outfit based on this artwork? Do you enjoy doing any kind of painting? Do you like abstract art?
Blogs I link up with are listed here.
You nailed this challenge! You've captured the hues of the painting perfectly.
Thanks so much for sharing with #MMBC. Hope to see you again. :)
Sally, I absolutely adore this shade of blue on you! It is so pretty. And the colors on your dress really are a perfet match to the pastels in the painitng. I almost chose one of Mondrian's works in primary colors but I wasn't loving the primary colors for outfits. The pastel one is so much better! And your outfit represented it perfectly!
Shelbee
You did such a great job with this challenge!
You've captured the colours really well with the first outfit. Thanks for linking with #pocolo
The artwork is unusual for Mondrien, being pretty pastel shades. Your outfit is a perfect choice. Thanks for linking and have a good week.