Julie Donec

Girl with a Pearl Earring #4

If you're confused by the jump from the second to the fourth stages, please read the text on the Vermeer 2. Also you will see a signifigant colour change/shift between this image and the last one. That is because I shot this one outside - as opposed to taking the picture with set up lights in my studio. From now on, I will shoot indoors. (More fixing in Photoshop, but no extreme colour shifts either. My apologies for the irregularities). Here, I've started to work on the 4th, or 'dead' layer (a term used to describe the monochromatic scheme that is void of colour). To create your gray palette, you'd normally use Flake White, but I've substituted a 50/50 mix of Titanium and Zinc White. I chose the Titanium for it's covering power, and the Zinc because it dries quicker. Take your 'white', and mix with black, (I like Mars or Lamp black, but this is Ivory Black and it was quite acceptable). Think of your 11 step grayscale, and aim to make a mid- tone gray, add a little yellow ochre, and then to take off the resulting greenish tinge, by adding some red ochre. It helps if you mix the colours in this order; otherwise the mix goes either too yellow or red, and is difficult to balance out properly. I have used Old Holland Indian Red, which I thought gave me a nice 'red ochre' feel, or you could try a mix of middle cadmium red, a little burnt sienna and if it's too red, put in a little raw umber. It's green undertone cools any excess heat. From there, you finish off creating the rest of the grays, moving to a high range (made up of whiter/lighter grays), to your low end of the scale, (of darker grays). Lay in your lighter values in a heavier opaque application, and keep your shadows thin; and at least a tone lighter than they really should be. Looking at the image at this stage, I'd be happy to call it quits here. It has a quality the end result never has...but on we go. Why not just black and white paint to create the gray tones? By adding the yellow ochre and Indian Red, it saves it from being too cold, and compliments the earth tones underneath very nicely. I handed out b/w images of the 'Girl with the Pearl Earring' which I hope was helpful in deciding how to paint your 'dead layer'. I'll post the completed 4th layer as soon as I am done.