Dragon Tie (Lindsay)

by Godfrey J. Ellis – Acrylic 14×18 Dec 2023

This painting didn’t come easily but it is the best I could do. Jeff is the senior editor of a scholarly journal for which I serve as the associate editor. I’ve never actually met him in person, but he has done so much for me that painting Jeff and his wife for Christmas was the least I could do to express my appreciation for him.

As you can see, she has her eyes closed and Jeff wanted me to open them more. That was difficult because it changed her smile. I think it came out okay. Another interesting feature of this painting is the tie. He got this dragon tie in China and really likes it. Imagine my surprise when I received the reference photo and saw the tie because, when I was in China, I had purchased a tie with the exact same dragon print! Not a similar tie – the exact same print! So I was able to see the detail and painted the tie part from my own tie, not from the reference photo. Look at the indistinguishable face of the dragon in the ref. photo compared to the detail I was able to include from my own tie.

Below is a blurry photo of the Lindsays with their portrait.

Here are four photos of the painting in progress: