Black Hair (Tuia)

by Godfrey J. Ellis – 14X18 Acrylic Feb 2023

This is another of our lovely young missionaries. The challenge here was to make her black hair black enough but still allow for texture and shape to show through. The photo of the painting is never as good as the actual painting and the nuances in her hair don’t show through on this photo. Although she was born in the United States, her ethnic background is a mix of Native American and Samoa, so I wanted to capture that as well. Finally, the lettering of the badge was a challenge. Below is the reference photo.

The background in the reference photo was unclear and distracting so I decided to put her in a gentle fading oval (with her enthusiastic approval). Below is a photo of her holding her final portrait,.along with yours truly.

Below are four photos of the portrait as it developed. You can see it went through a few “false starts” that had to be corrected.