Girl With A Pearl Earring WIP Master Copy

Ok, this project will probably be as slow as I am.  I always thought it would be so cool to be a copyist at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC and get to copy master works from history's most famous artists.  But for many various reasons ranging from the strict approval process to not being sure I could paint through all the ugly parts of painting the "old masters" while people are watching, that isn't possible.  But here is the slow part - I just figured out there are so many digital images of master works available I could paint on my own and learn - Duh!!!  My little box is such a small world.
I wish more of my dear friend, Renate would rub off on me.  I should learn her from because she is fearless when it comes to "going for it" when painting.   She doesn't think can't.  She also found a challenge years ago where they painted from master works.  She produced some spectacular paintings while doing those challenges.  At the National Gallery they have this little room with the most spectacular Dutch paintings, they do have Vermeer's Girl with the Red Hat, and I love that too, but this one has a haunting way that this girl looks over her shoulder at you.
So what you will see is my working to establish an under painting in acrylic black, burnt sienna and white trying to work in all the various shades of gray/brown/black.   Then will hopefully eventually glaze in the correct acrylic color over the foundation.  Guess this is similar to a grisaille but slightly different as I can cover and rework using the opaque white.  Since I am so far outside my comfort zone I am sure there are going to be quite a few ugly posts with lots of changes and overworking - thankfully white is opaque!!!!
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.  Have a great week.