Girl with the Pearl earring

Artist Comments

A copy of the iconic Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer, sometimes referred to as 'The Mona Lisa of the West'. This was my second ever oil painting.

The underpainting was completed using the Verdaccio technique - this is where the skin tones are established with a green earth colour palette using Terre Verte. The concept here is that green, being the complementary colour to the 'reds' found in skin, provides an excellent base to form shadows and depth. The final rendering of the skin was completed with a scumbling technique.