Artist: Vermeer "Girl With Pearl Earring"


I always try to introduce different artist for students to learn about portraits. Recently we used the Dutch master Vermeer as our Inspiration. Johannes Vermeer (1632 - 1675) was a Dutch painter who specialized in exquisite, domestic interior scenes of middle class life. Vermeer was a moderately successful provincial genre painter in his lifetime. He seems never to have been particularly wealthy, leaving his wife and children in debt at his death, perhaps because he produced relatively few paintings. Vermeer worked slowly and with great care, using bright colours and sometimes expensive pigments, with a preference for cornflower blue and yellow. He is particularly renowned for his masterly treatment and use of light in his work. We use his most famous painting "Girl with Pearl Earring" (1665-1666) for our project.

Materials: Heavyweight drawing paper 8" x 10" (this work is almost a square), sketching pencil, watercolor pencils or paint.

Step #1: Draw a light guideline across the middle and down the center of your paper. Draw a egg shape oval near the center with a slight tilt.
Step #2: Draw a light guideline for the eyes and nose, then draw her eyes (she is gazing over her shoulder), nose and lips as shown below. I use four lines to create a slightly open mouth.
Step #3: Draw her head wrap and ear with the pearl earring. Then draw her neck and her collar.
Step #4: Draw her front shoulder and her coat. Her back shoulder disappears into the dark background.

Step #5: Time to use your watercolor pencils or paint to bring her to life. Vermeer used a dark background to have the portrait almost come out of the canvas.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Artist: Paul Klee - Cat and Bird

Image
One of my favorite artist is Paul Klee, his work is simple and complicated at same time. Paul Klee was a Swiss artist and teacher from the early 1900's who liked to turn things he saw into simple geometric shapes. His "Cat and Bird” painting from 1928 is a classic example of his philosophy. Klee grew up in a musical family and was himself a violinist. After much hesitation he chose to study art, not music, and he attended the Munich Academy in 1900. Klee loved to use continuous lines in his work, the cat's head and the bird were drawn with one continuous line . Our lesson experiments with both geometric shapes and color. Materials: Your choice of materials, we have used the "Cat and Bird" for acrylic painting, watercolor painting. oil pastel, chalk pastel and pencil. Step #1: Draw a border around the paper. Draw light guidelines down the center and across the middle. Draw a large "W" type shape for cats head. Step #2: Draw the cats eyes and snout
Read more

Artist: Van Gogh Sunflowers

Image
Vincent Van Gogh (1853- 1890) was son of a Dutch pastor in The Netherlands. He was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter whose work had a far-reaching influence on 20th century art for its vivid colors and emotional impact. Little appreciated during his lifetime, his fame grew in the years after his death. Today, he is widely regarded as one of history's greatest painters and an important contributor to the foundations of modern art . Most of his best-known works were produced during his final two years in Arles France. He painted several studies of the Sunflowers as a deliberate experiment in color. Our project uses one of Van Gogh Sunflower still life to work on the elements of composition and color. Materials: I have used acrylic paint, oil pastel, watercolor paint, watercolor pencil and chalk pastel for this project. I like to have the students be like Van Gogh and try the project several times and then look at the results. Step #1: Draw the bottom of your flower vase. Dr
Read more

Artist: Henri Rousseau - Surprised! Storm in the Forest

Image
One of the best animal artists for kids is Henri Rousseau. Henri Rousseau (1844 – 1910) was a French artist did not start painting until he was in his 40’s. Ridiculed during his life, he came to be recognized as a self-taught genius whose works are of high artistic quality. He tried to paint in the schooled manner of the traditional artists, but it was the innocence and charm of his work that won him the admiration of many avant-garde artists such as Paul Klee and Pablo Picasso. Rousseau's loving attention to detail that made him an exceptional artist. We use Rousseau “Surprised, storm in the forest” as the inspiration for our lesson. We want the tiger's head to look like he is through the leaves. This lesson focuses on color and space. Materials: Sketching pencil, heavy weight drawing paper, sharpie. Finish with your choice of watercolor pencils, oil pastels or pastel chalk. Step #1: Draw light guidelines with a sketching pencil. Draw a large circle for the head. Step
Read more