Unexpected Inspiration

One of my favorite times in life, is when inspiration takes me by surprise. Instead of me having to search for it, it hits me by a surprise WHAM-in-the-face. This morning was one of the moments. I was chilling on the couch watching ANTM cycle 10 reruns sipping my coffee, when this shot of the bus they were traveling in popped-up on screen. Even now looking at this image I've had a few more ideas pop in my head, not all formal wear I'm seeing a couple menswear pieces now. I think I feel a 6 outfit line coming on again from it! Stay tuned.


When I saw this image an evening gown popped in my head. In this moment, I felt like it lasted for hours. I saw how the gown would twirl and move and the way the colors would pop off of one another. I could see my girl walking down the streets of New York and the long train trailing behind her being gently whipped by the wind. I immediately grabbed one of my sketchbooks and started drawing, and here are my drawings.

I decided to use my chalk pastels to render it, as you can tell my skills with them are still a little rough. I discovered chalk pastels in my second art class, and although we had a hate relationship at first I've actually grown rather fond of them. If you are looking for a new medium to play with I 100% recommend them. I think the benefits of using them are the limitless colors and effects you can create. One thing to be careful of is putting to many layers on them as they can start looking like mud, and of course you have got to be careful with your fingers. Finger prints get me every time.

As for the dress, I didn't realize at first that the top of the bus was dark green I thought it was black. Therefore I saw the dress with a black top. I'm not sure how I'd want the one arm to be yet I've though about it covering part of the shoulder as well. I'm not sure whether it would be a black and white crackled looking top, shiney silk top, or a black chiffon top with black beading in a crackled pattern. A gold sash to seperate the colors depending on the top choise there might be some embellishment on the back. The bottom would either be chiffon or silk depending on the top part and 3 tiers of a deep crimson red or bright red. Now that I know the image was actually green now, I'm thinking when I render the other 5 I might do them with the dark green.

At the moment however, I am working on a beautiful dress for one of my close friends Laura. Here is the pattern and dress. The pattern is fairly simple and I'm hoping to alter it some to fit my vision for it more. The fabric is a cream cotton/poly blend jacquard in a houndstooth pattern that I found at JoAnn's fabric in Hoover. I felt this was appropriate as she's an Alabama fan :) Ad for the belt in the middle I'm hoping to create a one of a kind black belt embellished with some crystals by me to add some sparkle :).


<3

Samantha