Vermeer's Studio

For the last several months I've been working with the figure after a long time away. Kris Risto and Deb Sementelli have been bringing models in for figure sessions. It has been great to get back to it, but grueling work. Three hours of drawing and painting broken only by an occasional swig of beer. Kris has organized a couple of little shows of sketches at a little local gallery, but I have been working a few of the sketches up into finished works of which this is the most ambitious. One day the model was lit in a fashion that reminded me of Vermeer's light so I got the idea to work the figure into Vermeer's studio. I like the result. the color is keyed up a bit, but I don't think it is bad...it works actually. I had to reverse the model's direction and I turned the map into a blackboard, like the one in the studio where we work. I changed the artist's figure to me, but I tried to keep the shirt design. Everything else I tried to stay faithful to. Copying masterworks has a long history as a training method and each time I have done it I've experienced revelations. This time I was struck by the sophistication of the composition. Vermeer's tight construction of form and color holds together like a fine clockwork. I tried moving a few things around and it was immediately clear that the original location was the better one. A symphony without a note out of place.