My work was based on “Girl With a Pearl Earring”. I Painted myself into the painting and choose to make my claw clip the focus of the painting rather than have the earring be the focus. The name because of this became a play on the original name, changing the earring part to say claw clip.
Title: Girl with a claw clip
Size: 3ft x 3ft
Medium: acrylic on canvas
Completion: April 2023
Title: Girl with a claw clip
Size: 3ft x 3ft
Medium: acrylic on canvas
Completion: April 2023
inspiration
The painting I was inspired by was "Girl with a pearl earring" by Johannes Vermeer
It was a painting based on a real person. I chose it because I was doing a painting on myself and this was based on a real person as well.
The main focus of the inspiration was the earring of the painting, I changed the name to fit my piece with the claw clip I wear everyday. Other than that I've really liked this painting for awhile and wanted a chance to do work inspired by it.
planning |
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experimentation
I experimented with mixing different paints together trying to try and find the colors that matched clothing and things I owned. I then practiced different sketches of myself, one with no eyebrows like the original painting. I did another one with eyebrows. I decided to go with the one with no eyebrows to make it look more similar to the original painting while still looking like me. For this project I also learned how to draw my claw clip. Because of the shape and look of the one I wear pretty regularly it was fairly easy to recreate.
process
I started with building and stretching my actual canvas. I then gessoed my canvas, and sketched my drawing onto the canvas. I painted my background black like the original painting and went in and painted the hoodie. I ended up letting that dry and then went in with brown paint to do my hair. I tried mixing the paint to make the color of my claw clip however it didn't work well, so i had to buy the color. I painted the claw clip and moved on to the skin and face. Once the face was done I traced over the eyes to make them pop out more.
critique
Similarities: Both are based off real people. The original is based off of a dutch girl and mine is based off me. Both of the works have a article of clothing that is the focus, the earring and the claw clip. I tried to recreate the technique of the original painting.
Differences: My artwork was a self portrait, while the original is a portrait of someone else. The colors are different, mine work has darker colors, other than the claw clip so it can be the focus point. The original has bright colors and has more shading on the clothes than mine does.
Differences: My artwork was a self portrait, while the original is a portrait of someone else. The colors are different, mine work has darker colors, other than the claw clip so it can be the focus point. The original has bright colors and has more shading on the clothes than mine does.
Reflection
I enjoyed working on this project. It was probably my favorite project because of how much creative freedom I had. I enjoyed relating my project to the original because I really like "Girl with a pear earring". If I could go back and change anything I would add more shading like the original work onto mine. I would also fix how I did the eyes. They turned out really small and look weird compared to the rest of the face. Other than that I think my blending improved from my last painting and im happy with how it turned out.