Ellen Sharples

Imagine a super talented artist named Ellen Sharples! She lived a long, long time ago, from 1769 to 1849. Ellen was a painter, and she was especially good at making tiny, beautiful pictures called miniatures. She also loved to paint with soft, colorful chalks called pastels. These paintings were so special that people wanted to look at them again and again!

Ellen painted tiny pictures on little pieces of ivory, which is like a hard, white material from elephant tusks (but don't worry, no elephants were harmed!). These were like super small portraits. She even showed her art at a big art show called the Royal Academy in 1807!

Later in her life, she did something amazing: she gave a lot of money to start an art school in Bristol so other people could learn to be artists too.

Ellen Sharples was important because she was a fantastic artist who captured people's faces in her paintings. Her miniature portraits were like tiny photographs before cameras were invented! She also believed that art was for everyone.

By giving money to start the Bristol Fine Arts Academy, she made sure that many more people, young and old, could learn the joy of creating art and become artists themselves.

Ellen used two special ways to make her art. One was called pastel, which is like using colorful chalk sticks to draw and blend. The other was watercolor miniatures on ivory. This means she used watercolors to paint very small pictures on smooth ivory. These tiny paintings were so detailed and beautiful, showing off her incredible skill and patience to create such delicate artwork.