Girl With A Red Hat after Vermeer

 
             Girl with a Pearl Earring

          Girl with a Red Hat
                    8"x10"
                    Acrylic

Well, I am thinking that she is done, she will sit on the easel here for a bit.  I also am thinking of getting a really wide frame for this one to give it more substance.   I can't wait until she is dry so I can varnish - varnish will really make that red pop.  I absolutely love this picture and as I said before it is my favorite at the National Gallery - will get to see her in real life again soon.  I always have to spend some quality time in the Dutch/Flemish gallery with the Old Masters.  Vermeer has been my favorite and after doing the Girl with a Pearl Earring I wanted to do another.  It just has taken a bit to build up my courage.  Of course the absolutely lush reds in this didn't sway me much!!  Adding the red to the hat was the very last thing I did and boy was it ever the icing on the cake - all that color and so vibrant.  Actually the photo really doesn't do the actual piece justice.

When I started this picture I wanted to do the chiaroscuro or verdicchio techniques, but I messed up at the beginning when doing the initial layers of gesso, to smooth the canvas, by using black gesso as a final layer and now I had to resort to picking out the lights from the black.  Sort of a reverse order.  But still using the dead layers and then the glazing worked also with this method.  It was pretty scary though to put the light against all that black.  I boldly went to the whitest whites  of her collar and then when I put more background in, covering all that black, it seemed to even things out.  Even her robe which looks black has a lot of ultramarine blue and purple in it to keep it from looking dead.

I always learn so much from this copying the masters.  I really spend a lot of time color mixing and trying to get effects I normally wouldn't encounter in today's photos.    But I think doing that helps me add into my reference pieces taking them from copying to interpreting and being different than a camera.  For the next challenge I might try to find someone who does excellent brush strokes.   I am thinking that I am going to have to try a Singer Sargent - I have copied from his drawings, but never tried a painting.  I just can't get what he does out of one stroke.  So that would be a good challenge.

Thanks much for stopping by and taking a look and hope you have having a super day.

Comments

hmuxo said…
Congratulations Nelvia!!! These are beautifully painted!!!! Take a picture of someone and use the Masters technique and call it your own!!!! ❤️❤️❤️ It!
July 8, 2016 at 8:18 AM
Mellowood Gallery said…
Well done Nelvia! This piece is just super.
July 8, 2016 at 11:56 AM
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