The Condition of Mount Vernon because it's all about the architectural texture of that neighborhood, where she formerly lived. I drew dozens of these forms in miniature scale, as the real structures seemed to be diminishing before my eyes. To convey the declining condition of the forms, I washed the illustrations in watercolors. The depicted buildings seem the worse for wear, and in some cases seem like they'll disappear before our eyes. This mood of battered antiquity also owes a lot to the vellum that usually serves as the surface on which Starling applies ink, watercolor, charcoal, pastel, and acrylic.
Vellum is lambskin, often used as a writing surface.
Its crinkled appearance automatically lends an antique aura to the depicted buildings. Maybe she's taken the washed-out look to an extreme that is too, well, extreme. Coincidentally, this building just sold at auction and may yet see life again, but for the moment Starling has captured the sense that something so solid is about to disappear. The Washington Monument is presented as an ominous dark column with an equally spooky green watercolor wash coloring the air around it. This is Mount Vernon Place after hours, if you will, when the office workers and tourists have gone home and only the venerable architecture is left, to make it through yet another night.