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 tiny and indistinct snapshot. It was much too small to make out any details and, therefore, difficult to achieve any kind of resemblance at all. Second, the canvas I used was far too small for a good resemblance, It was only an 8X10. Generally, the larger the canvas, the better the painting. I painted it that small so she could carry it around with her. Ironically, she ended up mailing it home anyway. Third, it was early in my portrait painting and I still had a lot to learn. I didn’t think it looks like her, but she said she liked it at lot, and that it did look like her. So …at least that was a good thing.