Wonky Glasses (Lawrence)

by Godfrey J. Ellis – 14×18 Acrylic June 2021

This is another in my series of missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints serving in my home town of Lacey, Washington. This young man was assigned as Spanish-speaking (see the badge) but was temporarily working among the English-speaking because of the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic. He has a wide mouth and exceptionally straight teeth, so I spent a long time on that area. Notice the scotch tape holding the stems of his glasses together; he wanted that included in the painting! That’s why I named the painting, “Wonky Glasses.” I took the source photo in the back yard. He is very tall (6’5″ or so) and is standing in our back garden in front of the clematis growing on what we jokingly call the Ellis Trellis. Below is the reference photo (ignore the red line that I put on the photo).

He was very pleased to have the painting, which I completed just before he was transferred out to become a district leader in his new area. Here is holding his painting, which turned out to be a goodbye gift. He was very pleased with it. As you can see, he combed his hair in a different way than he had in the reference photo.

Below are 4 photos of earlier versions of the portrait. Lines and marks indicate where I still needed to work.