Today, we'll show you how to paint like Vermeer.
And we'll show you how to use a camera obscura. 
Welcome to RijksCreative.
In this course we'll take you on a journey trough art history..
we'll show you the techniques of the old masters..
from the renaissance up to modern time.
Let's go to our expert, Jane Turner!
Hi Jane!
-Hi!
Who was Vermeer? And why is his work so typical for his time?
Vermeer was one of the most beloved 17th century, 
Dutch Golden Age painters.
He only painted about 40 works over a 20 year career.
And each one is full of serenity but also mystery.
They're intriguing, what exactly is going on?
The woman is holding a letter, that's folded so 
she obviously received it, not written it.
Next to her is a chest with her pearl, her most precious possessions.
Is the letter going in it?
What is exactly going on?
Okay, let's do it!
There's a discussion about Vermeer whether he 
used a camera obscura for his paintings.
And we're not sure, and we're not sure whether 
he used it for this particular painting.
But when you know the image of a camera obscura, 
this is one.
You'll see that the image you'll get 
from that is very similar..
to the paintings Vermeer made with a similar perfect composition.
with a .. on the foreground.. 
and as if you're just entering the room and 
capturing a photographic moment in time.
It looks like this from the inside.
You take a lens, 
I took it from this..
and you add a mirror because the image is upside down.
And you project the image on a screen..
which then is here.
In order to keep it dark so that the image the most visible..
you can add even a tunnel on to it so you see the image the best.
okay, lets start painting our reference!
Now making the pallet, applying the colors.
Start with a white, a zinc white.
Light yellow.
Ocre, which is a bit oily as you can see
Ultramarine, the most beautiful blue.
A vermilion red, for the.. 
well for some liveliness in the skin tone..
and perhaps some shadows which look a bit purplish.
Raw umber, I'll be using that very soon.
And, to close: a black.
The paining is very much build up in ocres and blues.. 
so yellow tones and blue tones.
And we see a lot of the ocre from the ground layer in the painting..
so we'll be using that. 
And it seems that there's on top of that there's umber.
So I'll start with the shadow tones.
Quick tip: make sure the ground layer is dry before you start with this step.
Underneath her hair..
I'm basically outlining the figure a bit.
with Vermeer you really just paint the light and shade.
here is a lot of blue as well..
it's so dark I think it will help.. 
to add umber.
So you see the shadows are pretty flat..
 
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some modeling here but.
Well that's of course the main fear in the painting..
but theres more and if you look close you'll see
that there's raw umber in the map.. 
in the background shadow that the map casts..
in the chair and in the other chair..
and of course in the foreground..
it's dark table with some objects on it.
So I'll be painting those in raw umber as well.
I'm not painting the map as detailed as Vermeer did..
but using raw umber still and.. 
diluting it with water more and less 
to give a bit of an impression.
Well that's the final touch for the umber..
now I'll move to the skin and it's a bit of a difficult tone..
because it's pretty pale and grayish.
a bit blue-ish you could say.
So I have to see how to get there.
I'm mixing white and ocre and a bit of vermilion.
Adding a bit of umber.
I'll start painting the background now so that the white wall..
and the white wall is, well, not really white of course.
You see that it's very light where the light comes in.. 
and then it immediately also turns a bit of blueish..
there is a blueish shadow tone in the left part..
and behind her it's pretty yellowish.. 
so you see the ground color underneath shining trough..
and there is also a yellow tone mixed in the white itself..
and underneath the chair it's even a bit purplish..
so theres many many colors in one white wall.. 
making it look very real.
by painting transparently..
you'll see the white is a bit too warm here..
and also I've made the ground layer.. 
with the oil ocre.
It takes a long time to dry, so now that I'm.. 
adding paint it's mixing a bit..
that's, in itself a good thing.. 
otherwise it would be way too white..
but in this case you want to have a cool white
so I have to correct it.
Now I'm mixing some blue, see what happens.
I had some difficulties making this part of the wall blue-ish..
because the ocre was coming trough too much.
It's very thick right now. 
Just a warning when you trying this yourself..
do be sure that your ground layer is dry..
then you can control the paint layers on top of it better.
Now I'm moving over to the wall on the right..
the nice thing is that that should be yellow-ish so that's okay.
There is also still some blue in there..
got this bit of greenish tone almost.
By going over the shadow again, making it a bit more diffuse.
then it's a bit purplish or lilac under the chair.
It's a very strange color for an early modern painting, 
but it works very well.
I'm now adding the white details, so there not all entirely white..
a bit off white but done that the letter and the color..
and there's something lying  on the table, I think
the envelop or something or another part of the letter.
And after that it's really time for the blue closing chairs.
Also in the white these details you can still use the ocre.. 
in the ground underneath to make them a bit off white..
or add a little ocre as I do as well.
Some grayish blue shadow tone of the envelop here.. 
added some blue and some black.
So far I've use very few colors..
also if you look at the painting you see that there 
are only some colors used in the painting..
and that everything is blue and yellow really and some white.
I'll now go to the real stronger blues, the jacket of the lady.
It's the brightest blue in the painting.. 
and then you have a darker blue, the rot beneath the map
There's a blue mixed  with umber in the chairs.
First do the bright blue.. 
and then you can, well actually almost 
finish the painting with the other blues..
the other hues you make.
Also I'm now starting with the ribbons here
she got some nice details on the her chest..
and you see some ocre ribbons there as well..
and I'll just leave them open.
You don't have to paint them because it's already there..
you just have to, well.. 
ignore it while painting.
If you look very closely at the painting you see that there's..
also in your arms that you really still see..
some ocre here from the ground layer,
which is a nice effect. 
Gives her arm a bit of a warmer skin tone.
Here it's very dark but then just the outer.. 
limit of her jacket in the painting.
It's a bit reflecting, it seems. 
Some light there.
What a painter then would do, when he was almost finished..
and the painting was almost dry..
is retouch that a bit.. 
so that's is not such a harsh line but..
a nice soft line.
That blends in a bit with the background.
Here using a bit of umber that I used in the shadow tone underneath.
So you don't have to cover it entirely in ultramarine.
I'm now adding the lightest blue.
And here I'm leaving open.. 
a bit of ocre because you'll also see it in the painting.
Now I'll fine tune this a bit.. 
and after that..
I'll be continuing adding the blue to the chairs.
In the chairs there is blue with umber..
and there's very well, rather pure a bit.. 
with black, dark blue in here..
and to finish the painting really you want to.. 
take out some details, some lights add some highlights.. 
so that's the last step, I'll add a bit highlights to her face..
so that it pops out more.. 
and also the studs on the chairs.. 
brighter yellow with well..
golden color there.. 
for the studs so you can use ocre mixed with white.. 
or another bright yellow..
to make them pop out and then..
well, basically in tones your Vermeer is finished.
So now I'll finish the painting, I hope you'll do too..
and I hope you've enjoyed the episode!
Thank you very much lisa, see you next time!
- See you next time, bye bye!
