Mother and Babe

by Godfrey J. Ellis – 12×16 acrylic 2020

An Internet artist named Matt Philleo held an online acrylic painting challenge.  Artists from around the world signed up to choose and paint a common reference photo under his guidance.  The level of painting ability among the 300 who signed up for the challenge ranged from elementary school level to trained and skilled artists who regularly painted incredible portraits.  The photo chosen for the challenge was a man in a hat.  I preferred a photo of a young mother holding her newborn.  Although my first choice was not selected, I decided to paint it anyway.  It proved to be extremely challenging because of the various skin tones.  There are parts of it that I’m not fully satisfied with but, overall, it came out well. I was most happy with the baby’s face. Below is the reference photo:

Here are some photos of the painting at several stages of the painting process: