6″x8″ acrylic on cardboard, 2012. This painting, the second of two portrait gifts for Kathleen from Paul, features their three-year-old son Asa. I have experienced Asa’s ardor for trucks and trains first-hand, as Asa and Sonja sometimes get to play together. He imbues them with vigorous, joyful personalities, and expresses his deepest good will by offering his favorites to his playmates to borrow. It was such a pleasure to paint his sweet, striking face, which in person is incredibly animated — Paul tells me that it was nearly impossible to get him to be still long enough for a decent photo! Here are my recent portraits of Sonja and Asa side-by-side:
Author: Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait
My Little Pegasus
5″x7″ acrylic on cardboard, 2012. A collection of portraits of classic toys would not be complete without a My Little Pony! Between commissions, I’m building up a body of toy paintings for an upcoming August exhibit. This tiny Pegasus came from our amazing local thrift store, which had a whole basket of Little Ponies. Judging from my daughter’s delight and immediate confiscation of my “model,” we will be going back for more!
Monchhichi
6″x8″ acrylic on cardboard, 2012. This little classic Monchichi turned out to have a very sad story that belies it’s joyful expression and theme song. It had found its way into Sonja’s jumble of toys by way of a visit to my mother’s house. As I was painting it for an upcoming exhibit, it occured to me that I had no idea where it had come from, and so I emailed my family about it. My mom responded that she had picked it up at a yard sale on a whim in the late 80’s when my sister and I were already fairly grown. Our next-door neighbor’s very ill baby girl, Amelia, took a liking to it, and my mom would entertain her by dancing the monkey around. The little plastic feet would make a cheerful clicking sound on the floor Amelia would squeal with delight! She also liked to chew on the monkey’s furry tail. Poor Amelia’s passed away from her heart defect before she had grown beyond babyhood… I love this little toy for being a source of happiness during her short life.
Fisher Price Family
6″x8″ acryic on cardboard, 2012. Here’s a symbolic portrait of our family, each of us represented by a vintage Fisher-Price Little Person. My husband’s incredibly sentimental response to the piece was, of course, “Where’s my hair?” If you’d like a Little People portrait of your own family, please be in touch!
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!
Sonja With Braids
5″x7″ acrylic on cardboard, 2012. Took a break from the toys to paint my favorite little face… Sonja is four, and I think I’m going to try to make yearly portraits of her from now on. Is it evident that I love the Andrew Wyeth Helga paintings? Sonja’s braids definitely conjured them for me! 
Two Cowboys
5″x9″ acrylic on board, 2012. I wonder if my two vintage, wooden Fisher Price Little People cowboys have any idea how laden with significance they seem to be? I posed them on this chess board just because it was handy. However, my husband, who rarely comments on my painting, said “I like your cowboys! What are you trying to say by positioning them as king and queen on that chess board?” My father, upon seeing the painting, remarked “When you played with these 35 years ago you were obsessed about them as models for the perfect man in your life. You just couldn’t decide between red or yellow hat, so you married one that doesn’t wear a hat.” Okay…
UPDATE: My dad made up the thing about my embuing them with creepy symbolism. Thanks Dad!
Hamtaro and Totoro, take 4
8×10 acrylic on cardboard, 2012. These two are long-time V.I.P. toys in our house, and this is my fourth portait of them! The first two versions were puchased off the walls of exhibits, and the third was commissioned by someone who had seen the second but didn’t get to it before it sold. My husband and I originally bought the foot-tall Hamtaro in 2004 as a sort of mascot for his Toyota Matrix, which we called “The Hamster.” We bought the little Totoro for Sonja, hoping she would love the movie as much as we do (and she does!) I got myToulouse Lautrec on with this portrait, which is painted on a piece of cardboard that has been calling to me from the back of one of Sonja’s activity books for weeks!
Owl Finger Puppet
8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. We bought three of these little guys in different colors from the gift shop at the wonderful Saratoga Children’s Museum. Sonja barely had to point at them and I was already gathering them up, saying, “of course we’re getting these!” I actually don’t often encounter toys that I’m moved to buy, but when I do, there is no hesitation. Rarely one to use a toy for its intended purpose, today Sonja stuffed this poor finger-puppet full to bursting with “noise putty.” Fun! And gross!
Curious George
8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. Rather than languish in my post-holiday slow season, I’ve embarked on a series of portraits of classic toys. Here’s a jaunty stuffed Curious George… he’s trying to get the attention of my daughter, to no avail. Like most little kids, she does not value toys for their classic-ness, and currently would rather focus on future classics such as the Octonauts. Sorry, George!