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 […]
Category: Portraits
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 […]
First Performance (Ellis)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 Acrylic Sep 2019 This, the first public performance by one of my grandsons, 15-year-old Simon, took place at the Olympia Farmer’s Market in July of 2019. We were proud of him not only for his excellent music but also for his courage to perform in public for the first […]
In the Cooking Pot
by Godfrey J. Ellis – 1992 This painting was done in 1992 as a joke for my niece Christina. I was then 42 years old. Christina’s son, Tyler, had crawled into a cooking pot that was sitting on the ground by their tent when they were camping in a mountain retreat. She shared a snapshot […]
Torn Knees (Ellis)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – Acrylic 1990 The source photo of 10-year-old Braden Ellis was taken when he was sitting on the porch of the Huntamer family home in Lacey, Washington in 1990. We thought it was very cute. Braden is now a father of 3 including a 13-year-old. This was painted long before torn […]
Joseph Fielding Smith
by Godfrey J. Ellis – oil 1970 This painting of the prophet of the time, Joseph Fielding Smith, was the first true portrait that I can remember painting. I was a 21-year-old missionary in France when I painted it for the contacting boards that my missionary companion, John Horejs, and I were building. It came […]
The Banjo Lesson (Ellis)
by Godfrey J. Ellis – Oils 9×12 1970 This small painting of my brother, Barry Ellis and his daughter Tania, is dated 1970. Since, I was on my mission from 1969 to 1971, it is likely that my mother sent me the reference photo (dated 1969) and that I painted it at the same time […]