 See "Giglio Red" and other Flower Paintings. This article originally appeared in the Free Lance-Star on October 23, 2003. Stokes' 'Giglio' finalist for Easter Seals Stamp 
Multi-talented Fredericksburg artist Ellen Worthy Stokes' design voted one of 10 finalists for the 2004 Easter Seals stamp. BY ADELE UPHAUS Date published: 10/23/2003 THE FREE LANCE-STAR http://www.fredericksburg.com Ellen Worthy Stokes is a woman for all seasons. She's an art teacher, an interior designer and a portrait painter. She's comfortable with all kinds of art, whether it's painting a commissioned portrait of a young client standing poised at a ballet bar or smearing layers of colored glitter on canvas. "I always have a thousand projects going on at once," Stokes said. And she's receiving national recognition for what she does. Stokes' painting "Giglio Red" was selected by Easter Seals as one of 10 finalists in the national competition for this year's lily seal. Easter Seals is a nonprofit organization devoted to helping adults and children with disabilities. Since 1934, the organization has been issuing decorative stamps to raise awareness of their activities, and for 50 years the lily, a symbol of renewal and resurrection, has been its official logo. Hundreds of artists from around the country entered their original renderings of lilies to the competition this year, and six of the 10 finalists will be featured on this year's lily seals. Stokes decided to enter the competition because flowers are one of her favorite subjects. Her flower portraits, in which she takes tiny, delicate blossoms and paints them on an oversized scale, are among her most distinctive works. "I see small objects and give them power through size and lighting," she said of her flower paintings. "So they become more than an inanimate object." There are obvious comparisons to Georgia O'Keeffe, who also was fond of painting large-scale flowers, but Stokes feels that O'Keeffe's flowers are more abstract and sensualized than her own. Stokes had the Easter Seals contest in mind when she and her husband, Jerry, took a trip to Italy this past summer. She discovered the giglio red lily growing near the road while driving through the Valley of the Gardens in northern Italy. She said she was drawn to the flower by the striking magenta color in the tips of its petals and the deep red of the rest of the lily. "I just thought, that's my Easter Seal lily," Stokes said. Back home, she painted the lily from a photograph she had taken. It took three attempts before she produced a painting she was able to submit to the contest. She painted the first lily and signed her name at the bottom, only to read the instructions and find that the contest required a vertical presentation. So she painted it again, only to find that it was too big. Finally, she cropped the painting to make it fit the contest's requirements. "It was like Goldilocks and the Three Bears," Stokes said. "First it was too horizontal, then it was too big, then it was just right. "When in doubt, read the directions," she laughed. The public had an opportunity to vote online for their favorite lily. Voting ended Oct. 14, but the results have not yet been announced. Another of Stokes' works to receive national recognition is her portrait of Marilyn Monroe, titled "America's Sweetheart." Pen and Brush Inc., an organization of women artists, selected it from among submissions by artists along the East Coast to participate in an exhibit in New York City, starting Oct. 30. The portrait is a glitter painting, also one of Stokes' distinctive styles. "What I do is paint with glitter, layers on top of layers," she said. "People either love it or don't respond to it at all. I think there's a real magic to it, it creates these illusionary, 3-D effects that are mesmerizing." Stokes, who grew up in a small town in Georgia and has lived in the Fredericksburg area with her family for the past 10 years, fell into art as a result of an art class she took for her education degree at the University of Georgia. She said art was always a habit for her, but she never considered making it a living until a professor coerced her into joining the art department. She graduated with a degree in education and became an art teacher, and she is currently in charge of the art department at Fredericksburg Academy. While she has shown her works at Art First, Stokes is different from others in the Fredericksburg art community because she is both a freelance artist and a commission artist. "Unique art for unique people is my niche," she said. "I believe that every person deserves and can afford original art." Stokes works with designers and individuals to create personalized art on commission. She says she tries to represent what the client would do if they could. "I design what I call the whole enchilada," she said. "Then the clients can pick the parts that they feel relate to them." While other artists feel working on commission kills their creative spark, Stokes feels that the art she creates for others is still her own. "It's a very unique opportunity that I'm able to provide," she said. "Even though I'm working within the confines of their space, I've never failed to learn or take something valuable with me." In her personal paintings, Stokes said she feels that her figures often become universal archetypes. She's interested in the Jungian idea of the collective unconscious. "For example, my 'Tuscan Grandmother' sort of became the universal grandmother," she explained. "This couple from California was looking at the painting, and they said 'She only thinks it's a Tuscan grandmother, but it's really our neighbor.' People will say they know the name of a person in my paintings. My children could be anyone's children. That's the kind of thing that happens." Stokes said the art she produces now has more "meat and potatoes" to it than her old work. "They have more to say now," she said. This is what she feels is the whole point of art. "Art is visual communication," she said. "The goal is for each piece to be the best I've ever done, and in the effort to make it the best, messages and meanings begin to emerge. It's serendipitous. Special things start to happen." To reach ADELE UPHAUS: 540/374-5558 auphaus@freelancestar.com Date published: 10/23/2003 |