8″x10″ acrylic, 2013. One of my daughter’s very closest friends in her pre-k class is Cassie, an adorable girl with dark ringlets, dimples, and fabulous Lisa Loeb glasses. Cassie is often accompanied at drop-off by this well-worn bear. A gift from Cassie’s great-aunt, the bear originally known as “Fuzzy Was He” came to be called “BearBear” as he grew more and more beloved and less and less fuzzy. When Cassie was a baby, she would idly twirl BearBear’s fur in her finger while sucking her thumb. The fur plucking and twirling continues, so Cassie’s mom Catherine decided to commission a portrait to preserve BearBear’s present appearance before he becomes even more fur-less and floppy… in order to pose him I had to employ some strategically-placed tape to hold him upright in the chair!