9″x12″ acrylic, 2012. This bunny and bear belong to three-year-old Lily and Zoe respectively, and the toys were carefully posed by their mother Andrea to reflect the girls’ loving relationship. Lily and Zoe are identical twins, but have very distinct personalities… to their parents they look as different from each other as these two toys. Zoe is just slightly smaller, and Lily as very protective of her sister. This portrait is also another testament to the uncanny appeal of Jellycat toys, as I have painted this same style of white bunny many times! Andrea tells me that she let her girls choose this bear and bunny from the Jellycat website when they were very small, and they wandered around kissing crumpled paper print-outs of the toys while waiting for them to arrive!
Tag: bunny
Spike, Kitty, Blue Bunny
8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. In this “symbolic” family portrait, the family members are represented by their favorite stuffed toys. This is one of two portraits commissioned by Paul for his wife Kathleen as gifts for Mother’s Day and her upcoming birthday, although Paul ended up growing impatient and gave her both on Mother’s Day! The droopy, laconic Spike has always been Kathleen’s favorite Peanuts character, and she’s had this stuffed toy since she was ten years old. Paul’s blue rabbit was a given to him on his first Easter. This stuffed cat only recently emerged as three-year-old Asa’s favorite, and Paul reckons that it’s because he resembles their own cat “New Kitty” (who retains his title beyond his actual newness!) I have the pleasure of knowing this family personally, and I can tell you that these toys strike me as amusingly accurate and appropriate stand-ins! Check back tomorrow for my portrait of adorable, red-headed, train-obsessed Asa.
Doggy and Bun-Bun
9″x12″ acrylic, 2012. This was my fourth occasion to paint this particular style of white Jellycat bunny! This time, however, I got to witness in person how soft and irresistable Jellycat toys are, and the devotion they inspire. These two belong to the children of Jenny of the wonderful Mamatoga blog, who won the custom portrait I donated to an auction benefiting the Children’s Museum of Saratoga. I had the pleasure of visiting Jenny and meeting the adorable kids, and was able to set up the “photo shoot” for the toys myself! “Doggy” was originally a baby toy for Leven, who is now almost four, but was adopted by Finn, who is five. Levy now has this bunny in three sizes, and she sleeps with all of them! This middle-sized one is known as ” Bun-Bun.” It was really fun to watch the kids interact with the toys… they were quite relieved that I showed up just to take photos and not to take them away for an extended modeling session!
Emerson’s Bunny
8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. While painting this bunny, I was absolutely mesmerized by the rich, pinkish-coral of this bunny’s inner ear. I appreciate a not-quite pink in a world of cotton-candy colored toys! This Jellycat bunny is the least-tattered and grungy of 3 identical bunnies (two are back-ups, but all are in use, OF COURSE) belonging to Morgan’s daughter Emerson. The original bunny was purchased for Emerson before she was born by her excited father. Morgan tells me that Emerson will not let her throw away the older, disintegrated bunnies, and actually seems to prefer them to the newest! Emerson loves to suck on the ears, so those are usually the first to go. This portrait will be a gift for Emerson from Morgan for her upcoming second birthday.
Bun Bun Pillow
9″x12″ acrylic, 2012. This portrait shall forever be known to me as the one that taught me a valuable lesson about social media! It was commissioned by Michele, who had learned about my business on Dooce last year but was actually local and had gone to high school with my husband. Small world! The painting would be a gift for her sister, Morgan, who was expecting twin boys, for her upcoming baby shower. Well, after she dropped off Morgan’s beloved childhood stuffed bunny, I was quite excited both about having a “live” model to paint and also about the challenge of making a printed-fabric toy appear three dimensional on canvas. So I took a snapshot of my floppy guest and posted it to my Your Toy Portrait Facebook page. Several hours later, I got an email from Michele telling me that a her cousin had somehow seen the photo on Facebook and, thinking, “Hey, that looks like Morgan’s Bun Bun!” he posted to Morgan’s page! Morgan evidently burst out laughing, looked around and found that Bun Bun was missing, and called Michele saying “What have you done?” Michele assured me (I was HORRIFIED) that Morgan had no idea what was happening specifically, so it would still be a suprise. Since this incident, of course, if there is any chance of the recipient finding out about it, I never discuss an in-progress portrait online! Lesson learned. In other news, this very soft, sweet-faced bunny is one of the few toys that have come into my studio that was absolutely adored by my daughter! We were both sorry to see Bun Bun go.
Asparagus
8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. This bunny’s comfortable pose is the result of twenty-three years of love from Samantha, who recieved him as a gift when she was a newborn. He was given his ridiculously charming moniker “Asparagus” because it was California in the springtime, and that was reason enough. “Sam especially loved to run her fingers across the silky grain of the pink ribbon around bunny’s neck,” Sam’s mother Barbara wrote me. “This calming action always helped Samantha fall asleep with a sense of peace and security.” Asparagus remained by Sam’s side through college, and now has a place of honor on her bedroom bookshelf out of reach of a golden retriever puppy.
Tickle Bunny
8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. At one year old, Sophie seems to be giving her adored stuffed bunny a name! He has been known simply as “Bunny” ever since he was given to Sophie in the hospital at her birth. But recently, Sophie’s mom Allison tells me, Sophie has consistently said “Tickle” each time she picks the bunny up and greets him. Sophie likes to kiss his nose and squeeze him tight while saying “Awwwwwwww!” When her parents take her out of the crib in the morning, Sophie is sure to grab Tickle(?) too, so he doesn’t miss out on any of the fun! You can see two other portraits that I’ve done previously of this particular model of Jellycat bunny here and here.
BlaBla Bunnies
8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. Melinda’s six-year-old son’s white Blabla bunny eventually became so tattered that it was no longer repairable. When it became evident that she wouldn’t be able to find a bunny with the exact same coloration to replace it (not sure that would have worked, Melinda!), a story was concocted about bunny having a cousin who was coming to live with them. In this way, some of the affection (and wear and tear) was diverted onto the stripey new addition to the family!
Blue Bunny
8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. I have spent a lot of time recently with a paintbrush in one hand and a magnifying glass in the other! My only source material for this painting was a series of actual paper photos from the childhood of Chris’ daughter Claire, who is now off at college (blue bunny in tow.) In most of the photos, the bunny is either partially obscured by Claire’s adoring stranglehold or lit by an unflattering flash, arms flung up in alarm as if caught robbing a bank. But one photo in which the light was lovely and the bunny appeared momentarilly relaxed, lying next to little sleeping Claire, became the focus of this portrait. Chris notes that the bunny was purchased at Fay’s Drugs for $12.99.
Miffy Rattle
5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. As Christmas gifts for the her family in Switzerland, Holly commissioned little portraits of the favorite toys of each of her sister’s two children. Holly’s sister takes a yearly photo portrait of her children together with their special toys. Holly originally envisioned one painting of the two toys, but then thought individual portraits would allow for additions to the series for any future siblings. This ridiculously cute Dutch Miffy the Bunny rattle gives me a little twinge of regret that it’s too late to get one for my own three-year-old! I might anyway, and convince her that it’s a maraca rather than a baby toy.