WIP - Vermeer Study

I have decided that I’m about ready to dive into painting with oils, this will be one of my final barriers that I have yet to broach.

So I thought if I’m going to attempt an oil painting, then why not start with the person who I’ve long admired for his accuracy, his colours and soft tones and who shares the same christian name as myself Jan Vermeer.

Before I attempt this mammoth undertaking, I’ve decided to approach this scientifically as well as artistically and set myself a baseline. The baseline being this pencil study I have decided to sketch to give me a feel of how Vermeer might of approached it and also to help me get a general feel about this beautiful portrait.

I’m sketching this study on A3 size Goldline bristol board (16.5” x 11.7”)

So far, I’ve only been using only two pencils, a 7H and a 2B (Pentel P205 with a 0.5mm 2B lead). This really makes you work on trying to achieve a really delicate touch on the shades, and you have to build up all the shades ftom the hard 7H then try an go over this with the 2B, in effect in this study, I’m trying to paint with nothing but pencils.

Okay, this is simply to show you how far I’ve got on my current project, a study of Vermeer’s The girl with the pearl earring in pencil.

I am finding the tones and shades in this beautiful Vermeer, are some of the toughest I’ve ever attempted. Unlike a sketch of an animal or a person where I normally only ever use a photo reference and the only precedence is my take on the reference source. Here I am trying to sketch trying to match one of the great masters where the precendence has already been set. I’m so pleased I have decided to do this pencil study before I attempt to paint this in oils.

I am finding so much detail in every piece of flesh and garments, I can honestly say that I am really beginning to appreciate the work (and committment) Vermeer had put into this portrait. The folds in the shoulder (I’m finding) are as delicate as the reflections in the simple earring. This earring itself is only a suggestion, there are no definite edges to it. The whole earring is only really visible by it’s reflections.

Without doubt this is fast becoming one of the most enjoyable projects I’ve ever attempted in a long time, the worry I normally have over whether or not the client will like the finished piece has been replaced by the my own standards of how accurate I can make trhis study. I keep constrantly checking how close I can get to Vermeer, how subtle his shadows are how delicate the skin is. If you’ve never done this, I would highly recommend it as one of the few preocesses left where you can almost communicate with one of the great master.

This is really starting to get tougher, I thought that the skin tones on the girls face were pushing me to my limits, but the clothing that she is wearing, I’m finding, is sooo fine and to get pencil to look like textured paint is really pushing the envelope. But taking my time, and examining every square centimeter, and trying to replicate it in pencil, is the only way forward. I really do feel that I am finally getting into the soul of Vermeer the only way I know, through my pencils.

Still on only two leads, 2B and a 7H

But l’m beginning to see this portrait in a completely new light, it’s almost as if I can see the texture of the paint strokes, see where he placed his light and darks and where his tonal boundaries were placed to give just the right amount of feeling into this beautiful portrait.

This girl in the portrait is starting to tell me things about her artist, slowly at first but the more time I spend on this study the more she reveals about this portrait of her. I can almost feel the fabric of her head scarf, the tightness of the knot at the top to tie it all together. The addiction doesn’t stop there, I find as I progress more and more with this study, I’m constantly updated minute areas that I have already sketched and thought I had finished, this Vermeer study is slowly turning me into some kind of obsessive with the amount of detail I keep finding and trying to replicate.

Almost there….

...and I'm still enjoying every agonishing minute of the process!