Girl With A Pearl Earring by Shep after Vermeer

I'm Back...to Blogging!  We had the greatest summer in Cloudcroft, New Mexico and I've never painted more in my life...or better I hope.  This painting "The Girl with A Pearl Earring" was Vermeer's Master Piece.  I think it might be mine also.  This is a Master Study and to complete the painting was the hardest and most rewarding painting I've ever done.  From the very beginning I tried to walk in Vermeer's shoes.

I had great help all along the way.  Brittany, the manager of Jerry's Artarama in austin was an invaluable help in getting the pigments right.  When Donna and I saw "Girl..." in The Hague the first thing that catches you by surprise is that the background is NOT black.  It's a beautiful Green.  Not just any green but a green made by mixing Indigo and "Weld".  What color is Weld?  It's a very transparent yellow and when mixed with transparent Indigo makes an amazing Glaze.  What colors did Brittany come up with to create Weld?  She's probably forgotten and I'm taking it to the grave.

Even after completion I had help...which led to me realizing I was not finished.  I sent a picture to Geoffrey Laurence, the great Santa Fe Artist and a dear friend.  Geoff sent back a critique with two pages, single spaced, of things I didn't quite have correct.  I'm eternally grateful to Geoff for pushing me to be a lot better.  Plus, when taking Geoff's class he will tell you to NEVER glaze with white, but in his critique he introduced me to a unique Vermeer secret, "Overall softness by Vermeer was achieved by putting a very thin scumble of white over all the parts that are in the light then carefully glazing very small amounts of colour over the top and modeling it".  Thanks Geoff!

Shep  
Click HERE to see Shep's Website