by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 acrylic 2020 This is the Reverend Kayij, the husband of the woman in the bright dress (“Congo Pride”) and the father of my colleague, Kaj Kayij-Wint. Her father had recently passed on and this painting was commissioned by her as a memory of him and a tribute to his […]
Category: Portraits
Colorful Ciara (Nies)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 acrylic 2020 This portrait is of our friend, Carol Nies’s, 18-year-old granddaughter, Ciara. Her hair is yellow one day and pink the next. Is the painting any good? I guess art is in the eye of the beholder. The abstract background was my first attempt at what is called […]
Fire in the Forest (Rafn)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 acrylic 2020 This is the wife of Mark Rafn. He liked his own “Good Samaritan” portrait so much that he wanted one for his wife as a Valentine’s gift. I was interested in doing it because I was intrigued at how bright her auburn hair shone as the light […]
The Good Samaritan (Rafn)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 acrylic 2020 I grounded the car on a cement curb one early and still-dark Sunday morning. After Church, Mark Rafn came out to take a look. He was a 42-year-old young man who was suffering with terminal cancer. He immediately insisted on getting down on the ground and cut […]
The Joy of a Leaf (Mortinson)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 acrylic 2020 Thrilled with the portrait of Mark, the Mortinsons asked if I would paint their autistic grandson who found a huge maple leaf outside. I liked his joy as he proudly showed it off. She offered to pay for it but was aghast when I suggested $100. She […]
Congo Pride (Kayij-Wint)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 acrylic 2020 One of my favorite students, who went on to earn a PhD and become a colleague, was Kaj Kayij-Wint. I offered her a painting of her child and she asked for her mother, Kona, instead. Kona is 72 years old and extremely soft spoken with a habit […]
Saintly Inspiration (Mortinson)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 acrylic 2020 This is one of my favorite portraits. It is a painting of Mark Mortensen, a very sweet, gentle man suffering with Parkinson’s. There are technical mistakes but I felt like I captured the saintly tone of this sweet man. I wanted to capture not only his likeness […]
My Three Sons (Ellis)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – Nov 2020 acrylic 12×16 We had a photo of me with our three sons. My wonderful wife, Merry, asked me to paint it for her for Christmas 2019. I told her bluntly that this painting could not be done – at least by me. The figures were too spread out, […]
On the Deck (McBride)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – Dec 2019 acrylic 11×14 This portrait was painted as a missionary gift for Sister McBride. She was standing on the back deck of our home on Kapalea Way in Lacey. All of the sister missionaries were sweet and kind but both Merry and I had a soft sport for this […]
Bay of Bengal (Jolley)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 15×30 Acrylic Dec 2019 Our good friends, Allen and Janine Jolley, spent 18 months on a service mission in far-off India. Of the thousands of photos that they took while there, I loved this one the most (once cropped). It is a photo of them standing on the shore of […]