Sarah Meets the Eiffel Tower (Ellis)

by Godfrey J. Ellis – Oct 2019 acrylic 12×16

When my wife suggested I paint my granddaughter, Sarah, from the crooked snapshot below, I honestly thought she was crazy. “Are you joking?!” First, the composition was all wrong. It would require a tall skinny canvas. Second, her shirt seemed impossible with all that white and the printed lettering. Third, there was no way in the world that I could paint the Eiffel Tower. But with the encouragement of my biggest fan (my wife), I thought more about it. I was able to digitally move Sarah higher in the photo and cut off her legs and the top of the Tower. That solved problem number one. Second, I thought I might be able to tackle her shirt. Third, painters have been painting the Eiffel Tower for at least 200 years, so it could definitely be done. Maybe I could do it, too. I decided to give it a try. It took a lot of experimenting and a lot of patience, but it came out better than I had expected. I’m not crazy about her hair, which I was still learning how to paint.

Below is that insane reference photo.

This is Sarah holding her portrait. Yes she is as sweet as she looks.