As anyone was following Mr. Teller on twitter for about two year, one notice he have a lot of projects in his sleeve (pun not intended), but there was one that outshine the rest, a documentary about a man, who knowing nothing about painting, tried to recreate a picture of Johannes Vermeer, the resulting odyssey was called “Tim’s Vermeer”.
After watching it, I fell in love of the idea that anyone could paint any picture, with just a few tools, and doing it in a very accurate way.
A few days later, I read an article by Joshua Gans, calling “Tim’s Vermeer” a hoax, retelling, among other things, his failed attempt at recreating the first “contraption” showed in the movie. In defense of the article, I do have one question: why nobody thought about that incredible genius tool before?, and I don’t know if any of the film was exaggerated, distorted or simply false, but I can tell you the first technique that Tim Jenison use is doable and truthful. Why?
Because I successfully use it.
The article’s author probably didn’t understand a few things: the motivation (and, arguably, dedicated madness) of Mr. Jenison, the artistic decision for, how, and why the film was made —or why Mr. Teller don’t speak, and I unfortunately can’t explain that, what I can explain and teach is how to use the “mirror on a stick” tool to make a successful copy of any picture.
What you need:
- A mirror, small enough so the painting can be watched, and big enough to work in a section without moving the mirror.
- A stick, a retractable one if possible.
- Something to join the mirror and the stick, like duck tape.
- A base, so the stick don’t move.
- Painting kit (something to paint over, brushes, liquids to clean and mix the paint, and the pigments).
- A lamp, to work in a fixed light.
- A vertical holder for the picture/reference.
- And a picture, any picture your heart desire, in black and white for an easier work.
Assembly
Put together, firmly, the mirror and the stick and place it in the base in an angle of 45°, in all three axis.
Put your picture in the holder, and in a 90° angle your cloth/wood/paper where you’re gonna paint.
Turn on your lamp.
Align the mirror tool, so the picture can be seen in the work area, like this:
Mix your colors and start painting, move your head side by side —like if you’re hearing a soft but danceable song, and try to recreate what you see, colors and everything. (this is better explained in the film).
Do that until you done with that section, and repeat in the next section until done.
Advices
- Is simple, but arduous work —it took me a week, working two or three hours per night, to finish the painting, mostly trying to correct mistakes and details.
- The painting end when you want it to end, you don’t have to get all the details if you are happy with the result (like I did), and also you don’t have to stop if you think you can do more detail or a better job (like Jenison did).
- Try to work it on one sitting, because anything could move and distort the image, alternative, try to work in phases, like one face per sitting, if anything moves, don’t worry, is fixable but is a pain in the ass.
- Don’t be afraid of “ruin” your work trying to correct something you don’t like, trust your feeling (and eyes) if you think that is distorted, skewed, or simply you don’t like the result.
- If it is your first time using oil paint, have someone guide you how to use it, I have the luck to be guided by a professional painter, and my painting technique did improve thanks to her.
- The painting will mirror the reference… that probably obvious in retrospective, but I didn’t notice until I was starting to paint.
- You’ll want a good fixed white light so the colors wont be distorted by the ambient light.
- Patience, capital P, this is an intensive job, with a lot of frustration, but everything is worthy in the end.
Jenison was very dedicated to recreate “the music lesson”, but it isn’t necessary, all you need is a picture, a printer, paint kit and tons of patience.
Happy Painting.
