The Loving Imp (Delimont)

by Godfrey J. Ellis – 8×10 Acrylic Dec 2019

I taught Church Primary class in 2017 and had a little boy named Jarom in the class. He was smart as a whip but, phew! What energy! He would run around the classroom hitting the other little boys and standing on the folding chairs. He didn’t know how to read and wasn’t interested in coloring or watching videos. He was the one who told me, “I don’t want to please Heavenly Father.  I want to play my favorite game: ‘Destroy the world.’” I made him the Class President (meaning he chose who said the closing prayer) and that seemed to help.

The family moved away in 2018 but they returned for one evening at a Church Christmas party and talent show in 2019. Jarom saw a few of my paintings that were on display there. He ran up to me and asked, “Where’s a painting of me?”  Oh, okay…. So, I painted this picture. It’s only 8×10 and it went from the sketch to close to final in only a few hours.  It wasn’t one of my best, but it’s okay.  The next week I received a thank you note from Jarom.  It read: “Tanck ouw for the picksher!  My houl family lovs it.” Below is the reference photo. As you can see, he is literally …still on my back! (Just kidding …maybe)

Here is a photo of his dad holding the painting.