Picture Study: Girl with a Pearl Earring, Johannes Vermeer {1665}

Oil on canvas
Dimensions 17.5 in × 15 in
Location Mauritshuis, The Hague
It has been so long since we have had picture study. I decided we would begin our studies again with the Dutch painter JohannesVermeer. Our first piece to study, Girl with a Peal Earring, is a small oil on canvas painting. Not much is known about either Vermeer or the painting, but background is not needed for a picture study.
The primary goal for our picture study is for them to take the time and attention to notice everything they can about the painting. With this in mind, I printed out the outline for the painting from this Squidoo on Vermeer Artist Study and had the boys use watercolor to complete it, which is a medium in which they are familiar.
They noticed the shadows right away, but in trying to reproduce them, they had to focus on where the shadows exactly laid and how the artist created them. For this exercise, it is not the end result that is the important part, but it is having to focus their attention on the painting itself that is the goal. I usually do the exercise as well because it often inspires a discussion as difficulties arise such as the choice of colors. We all, in fact, note each other's progress as we paint and will comment when one of us seems to have nailed a certain aspect or color down. We freely copy each other and therefore learn from each other's efforts.
{Upper left} Youngest student, {Upper right} Oldest Student, special needs {lower left} Middle student working on his outline, {lower right} Teacher's
They are now looking forward to seeing more of Vermeer's works. Next time I plan to focus on his indoor scenes.

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