Blue Lady Painting

Gainsborough's "Blue Boy" (which hands at the Huntington Library in Pasadena) inspired this painting. I was taken by how he had painted the blue taffeta suit the boy is wearing, particularly its white highlights, and wondered what it would be like to paint "Blue Lady." I went to some length to get the dress, ordering it through Etsy, from a dress making shop in Bulgaria. It took a while to arrive, but once it did, I hired the model seen here, not so much for her body (she was a little hefty for the dress) but because I liked her face. I hope when people see this painting and see its background (I imitated the background in the Gainsborough painting) they will think of Blue Boy and enjoy the spoof of Blue Lady.