When my sister Betsy and I were small we always dressed up for church, especially on Easter Sunday. I found some delightful photos of the two of us Easter Sunday, 1959. We had little straw sailor hats, proper purses, white socks, and the required little white gloves. We often wore special corsages on Easter. In this reference photo I wear a yellow rose. As we grew older my Uncle Carl provided orchids he raised in his greenhouse.

I’ve kept Betsy’s coat navy blue as I started filling in my pencil sketch on this next painting for my first solo exhibit.

I’m wearing a drab grey coat in the original photo and decided to paint it instead in the pale green blue I used for the ’56 Chevy. The coordinated colors contribute to the overall look I’m trying to achieve with all of the paintings in this series. This photo shows the painting surrounded by all the others I’m working on for the show. Looking back at my previous blog posts you can see this color scheme develop.

The little white gloves were almost always too long in the fingers. Wearing them did make us feel so proper on Easter Sundays.

Now I’ll continue to paint and draw more detail . . . and then go back and lightly dry-brush the background paint over the figure of me. I’m also going to add the front of the ’56 Chevy from another reference photo. It has a really fun hood ornament!