Shared Joy (Ellis)

by Godfrey J. Ellis – 16×20 Acrylic Dec 2020

This is our oldest living son and his dear wife, one of our precious daughters-in-law. They are a delightful couple and we are so blessed to have the most wonderful relationship with both of them. The reference photo was amazing (see below) and I knew I just had to paint it. April’s face was alive with a huge smile of joy; it was really cute.  I knew that, if I could capture that in paint, it would make a wonderful keepsake portrait for them. I was tempted to paint his shirt a solid color but one of the other artists in the portrait artists’ FaceBook page challenged me to paint the pattern. The artist who challenged me later wrote, “Remember when I said the last one was your best yet?  Not any more.  This one is hands down my favorite.  You’ve done her mouth beautifully [check.]  Her hair is even better than the last one [check.]  His face scrunched up next to her [yay!]  Her laugh comes through in her eyes [nailed it].  His shirt, well duh…. It’s you doing detail.  Love the background the way you’ve done it! [check.]  Five o’clock shadow [check.]  Bravo!” Below is the reference photo.

Here is a photo of April holding the painting.

Below are three photos of the portrait in the first stages of painting it. You can see the shirt in progress.