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 […]
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Leggings in the Canyon (Ellis)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 Acrylic Oct 2019 This portrait was a Christmas gift for my precocious and full-of-life granddaughter, Sadie. It was based on a photo taken during a visit to Superior Canyon in the Tonton National Forest in Arizona (see below). I was concerned not only about the rocks of the cliff […]
Reflecting (Redle)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 8×10 Acrylic Oct 2019 The painting captures our friend, 80-year old Jim Redle, reflecting on a discussion that was going on. I took the photo without him even realizing I had taken of him. We gave the painting to his wife, Joan, on her birthday. It wasn’t my best work, […]
Pensive Moment
by Godfrey Ellis – 11×14 Acrylic Oct 2019 As she was on a walk with her father one morning, this lovely young girl (Jenna, one of my granddaughters) had a thoughtful moment. I thought the photo that her father, Braden, had snapped looked like a fashion model from a glossy magazine. I wanted to paint […]
The Kitty (Ellis)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 11×14 Acrylic Oct 2019 One of my three granddaughters in Arizona was fun-loving Amy. Her favorite outfit was this kitty shirt and the floppy fur hood. The painting went very quickly. It essentially painted itself in one day – certainly the fastest I had done to that date. Merry said […]
Arizona Flower (Ellis)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 Acrylic Oct 2019 My lovely granddaughter, Lucy, was becoming quite the young woman. I thought the photo of her back-lit in front of an Arizona tropical plant (see below) was striking and I foolishly thought I could capture that background. I could not. I almost gave up in frustration […]
Concentrated Reader (Ellis)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 Acrylic Oct 2020 My grandson, Tyler, who was definitely NOT a reader, had to be forced or bribed to read even 20 minutes per day. On one visit to the family in Sacramento, I turned around in the car to catch a rare moment of him enjoying the old […]
My Dog, Sparky (Ellis)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – Sep 2019 and reworked Nov 2019 acrylic 12×16 This Christmas present for my granddaughter was one of the first true portraits I had painted in more than 30 years. As a result, it was frustrating to paint — I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. Then, suddenly, her […]
The Playful Hat (Ellis)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – Sep 2019 acrylic 12×12 This sweet granddaughter was sitting in my shopping cart in Target on one of our trips down to Sacramento. Full of life and fun, she reached over and grabbed a hat off a display and put it on. It was so playful that I snapped a […]
Striped Shirt (Durrant)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 8×10 Acrylic Oct 2019 This painting of Sister Durrant is the first of a series of paintings of young sister missionaries assigned to work in our area. I’m not pleased with this one. In my defense, there are three items that worked against me. First, the reference photo was a […]