My Three Sons (Ellis)

by Godfrey J. Ellis – Nov 2020 acrylic 12×16

We had a photo of me with our three sons. My wonderful wife, Merry, asked me to paint it for her for Christmas 2019.  I told her bluntly that this painting could not be done – at least by me.  The figures were too spread out, making the heads tiny. It would be impossible to get four good resemblances, even if it were a wall-size mural.  “Please stop asking me for that!” But I thought a lot about it.  I always want to make my wife happy – she gives so much and asks so little. So I secretly digitally experimented with moving the figures closer together so as to get the faces large enough to catch the resemblances. Then, over a month or so and when Merry was out of town every Tuesday, I painted it for her. There are many aspects of it that I am not satisfied with, but all four faces do look like the four men. In the photo of the painting (above) all the suits blend together, but they really are different colors. You’d have to see the portrait to see how tiny my tie clip and flag lapels are!

Below is the original “impossible” photo.

Merry was delighted. In our 47 years of marriage, I’ve seldom seen her so pleased. Below is a photo just after she opened the gift.