Lady in Blue 1910

Thomas Wilmer Dewing made this drawing, Lady in Blue, with pastel. You can almost feel the powdery softness of the chalk against the surface. I love the way Dewing uses a limited palette, mostly earth tones, and then BAM, a shock of cool blue. It’s like he’s whispering a secret. The texture is really interesting. It's not blended smooth, you can see the individual strokes, hatching marks that create a sense of depth and volume. Check out the dress, the way it seems to dissolve into the background. It’s all about suggestion, not a hard, clear outline. And the figure almost feels as if she's breathing because of it. Dewing was into tonalism, where mood and atmosphere are everything. I can’t help but think of Whistler, another painter who was obsessed with subtle color harmonies and the poetic possibilities of paint. Both artists remind us that art is about feeling, not just seeing.