Girl with a Pearl Earring - WIP - Masters Copy

Ok, I took a big step back as I really wasn't happy with the direction that I was going yesterday.  I mentioned to my husband that this was really harder than I thought, to copy a master, and his comment was so perfect - "That's why they are masters"!  Yeah. 
I decided that I wanted to use burnt umber as the underpainting rather do the grays.  It is warmer and I want to add very light flesh glazes so wanted a warmer under painting.   I want to keep the reds to a minimum as it appears Vermeer used a lot of yellow through this whole painting and think the brunt under will add the reddish tint without actually using a lot of red.
So first thing I did was to make a value chart for brunt umber to get an idea and feel for the paint application, also looked up what the complement, blue, is to create the gray tone.   Then I did some more studying and realized that the grisaille has to be much lighter than what you really think it should be as it really is the glaze colors that will add the color.  You can see that I really am primarily working in range 6-9.  Need to remember that what I am looking for with the grisaille is simply form.  I do find this tiring as there is a lot of concentration involved but I am happier with the direction today and will continue to work on this periodically.  Good thing I have a lot of white.  D:)
Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Comments

hmuxo said…
This is so impressive Nelvia! It's coming along so beautifully ....her eyes are amazing!
lOVE it!
August 7, 2015 at 7:16 AM
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