Japanese Missionary (Whitaker)

by Godfrey J. Ellis – 14×18 Acrylic Mar 2021

This is another in my series of missionaries serving in our area. This young man was actually assigned to Japan, but that country has closed its borders because of Covid-19.. He is serving here in Western Washington while waiting for Japan to re-open. He’s trying to learn Japanese in his spare time, but it’s hard to learn a language without being in total immersion. And that goes double for a language like Japanese. The characters down the left say “Missionary” in Kanji. The simpler characters on his badge say the name of the Church in Katakana. Below is the reference photo, which was taken out on our back deck.

Here is a photo of Elder Whitaker holding his portrait.

Below are three photos of the portrait as it went through the stages of painting.