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 an acrylic pour.  This means that thick white paint is put on a canvas and then bright colors poured onto it to diffuse and blend.  The idea was to have the background capture her bright colorful approach to life and I thought it demanded a white frame to balance it out. Merry thought the background was too wild.  My art friend, John Horejs, thought the background was too distracting.  I thought it was interesting but not mybest.  Barry said that it was a ”masterpiece” and “the best painting that Godfrey had made to date.”  So, there you go…. Fortunately, Carol Nies loved it, and her opinion was the most important of all.

Here is a photo of Carol and her granddaughter, Ciera, holding the painting. By the time of this photo, Ciera had died her hair orange! Oh, well….