Longboards (Ellis)

by Godfrey J. Ellis – Sep 2020 acrylic 16×27

Our precious granddaughter, 20-year-old Sarah, was married on Aug 22, 2020. They received many wedding gifts but none was as exciting to them as matching his/her longboards. (We had never even heard of longboards, but they are apparently a modified skateboard.) They were made by one of David’s brothers-in-law. We thought this photo, with its pink tennis shoe, captured a little of the life and vitality of this fun-loving couple. Ironically, the first time they took them out for a serious ride, David got going too fast and his longboard broke in two. Oh, no! Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt. Anyway, I had two great wedding photographs that I took at the time of their wedding and asked my artist friends from a FaceBook painting group which one to paint. They convinced me that I should paint BOTH of them. So this is one of two.

Below is the reference photo. I tried to stay true to the photo but I took out the cars in the background, as you can see.

This is a photo of the young couple holding the painting and trying to reproduce the pose of the painting. Hopefully, the portrait will give them a pleasant souvenir of their big day long into the future. It should also give them a memory of the longboards, which broke very soon after their wedding!

Here are three photos of the painting as it progressed through its various stages.