9″x12″ acrylic on canvas, 2014. Allison’s father liked the Fisher-Price Little People family portrait so much that she commissioned this epic, multi-generational Lego portrait as a gift for her parents! This was the first Lego family I’ve painted and I hope to do more… the ocean of minifigures in our basement gives me plenty of “live models” to work from and customize to more accurately resemble your family members. Allison was nice enough to send me this photo of her folks’ happy faces when they unwrapped their painting! 
And here is Allison’s Little People painting that I made a in March… it will have its own post as soon as I can catch up! Thanks Allison for these fun projects! 
Category: Sold
Vivi’s Bunny
8″x10″ acrylic on canvas, 2013. The devotion inspired by Jellycat bunnies is quite something! Children absolutely adore them. I’ve painted many a beloved Jellycat, and where there is one, there are often several. Kids wear them right out, so extras for rotation and replacement are essential! This particular bunny (and it’s three back-ups) is a special edition released by Anthropologie, with incredibly soft, heathery fur. Vivi’s mom, Casey, happened upon a pile of them while wandering around an Anthropologie while eleven months pregnant. She figured that since it was the year of the rabbit, a stuffed bunny would be a perfect gift for the new baby. Sure enough, Vivi takes Bunny everywhere and sleeps with him in a choke hold every single night. The four doppelgangers are rotated for even wear and to keep them “equally stinky and crusty,” as Casey wrote in her Babble blog. A few years ago I painted Casey’s own childhood favorite stuffed bear. If you’re not already familiar with Casey’s Moosh in Indy blog, check it out for extraordinary photographs and wonderful stories of her parenting journey.
Silas’ Bear
5″x6″ acrylic on cardboard, 2013. This is a disproportionately tiny portrait of a stuffed bear that is quite large in size and in gravitas. He has never had a specific name, but he’s been the favorite companion of thirteen-year-old Silas all her life. Silas is the beautiful, statuesque daughter of my dear friend Jennifer, who and this painting is a my Christmas gift to them. I knew the bear still an important presence in Silas’ life when he popped up on Jennifer’s Instagram (which they have come to sort of share) with the caption “My best fwendd
Little Lamb
This little stuffed lamb is mostly called “Doggy” by six-year-old Hero, who pulls it around the house on a pink leash. Hero’s mother Erynn has learned that, as a result, Doggy’s white wool can be used to gauge of the cleanliness of the floors… who knew there was so much dirt on those tiles? This is the third of three portraits commissioned by Erynn her daughters’ favorite toys. You can see Cora’s babydoll here, and click here to see Philippa’s stuffed sloth!
Dolly and Bear
8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. One of my very favorite toy stories is the one where the parent falls in love with a toy and is subsequently victorious in convincing her child to love it too! The bear in this portrait was purchased by Jennifer when she first became pregnant with her twin daughters Zora and Jane. “Having twin girls has been the greatest blessing in my life,” Jennifer wrote to me, “far more joyous (and exhausting!) than I could ever have imagined, and that Zora loves this bear represents this to me.” Jane’s favorite is Dolly, and is dragged to school each day, smothered in blankets and kisses while playing “mama,” and taken to bed every night. If Dolly is lost in the covers, Jane calls out “Dolllllllllyyyy” and Jennifer must come and find her. Jennifer notes, “They have many toys but these are the most cherished by far.”
Prints!
All of the paintings archived on this website are available as beautifully reproduced, affordable prints! I work with a wonderful printer whose very careful and artistic eye can be trusted to make an incredibly true reproduction of the original portrait. The images are professionally printed on either photo-quality matte presentation paper, which utilizes archival pigmented inks, or as a matte giclée print using Epson Archival UltraChrome K3 Pigment Inks, on Verona archival 100% cotton rag paper.
There is a 1/2 inch white border around the edges of the print. 
The prints have a very high resistance to high humidity, and a moderate resistance to direct water.
– The print will be shipped out via USPS Priority Shipping within 3-7 business days of receiving payment.
– Shipped flat in a protective cello sleeve with matte board backing in a flat mailer.
– Please let me know if you need your purchase rushed for a gift, I will try my best to accommodate you!!
In addition to the the three sizes listed below, larger options are also available.
Please write to me (jennifer @ yourtoyportrait.com) with the name of the painting and your prefered paper type and size, and I will email you an invoice.
$6 shipping within the US.
Pound Puppy 2.0
5″x7″ acrylic, 2011.
This portrait might look a bit familiar… it is my second painting of Meriwether’s beloved Pound Puppy, which she has had since childhood. When she recieved the original portrait, her mother liked it so much that Meriwether decided to order another one for her, too! This situation was an exciting first for me, although it is not the first time I’ve painted the same subjects multiple times: Here are two versions of a squishy Hello Kitty, and two of Hamtaro and Totoro posing together.
Order a print of this painting:
More info about prints here.
Happy Hippo
8″x10″ acrylic, 2009. Hippos hold a significant place in our own family lore, so I was thrilled to be asked to paint this adorable stuffed hippo just before Christmas! His name is Happy, and he’s been the favorite toy of Zoe, 4, since she was one-and-a-half. I love how simple he is — a perfectly abstracted shape, almost minimalist. I was sent some fantastic photos of Zoe together with a very thread-bare Happy and it is clear how loved and important he is! He would fit right in among my younger sister’s collection. She loved hippos as a little girl, and has long been the victim of her family falling back on this fact when buying birthday or Christmas gifts. As Happy demonstrates, sometimes less is more!
Boo Boo
8″x10″ acrylic, 2009. This bunny belongs to Billy, and the portrait was commissioned by his father. “Boo Boo” bunny is ridiculously adorable, but I felt compelled to try to honor the masculine aspect of this father-to-son gift by painting him in a conciously non-cutesy way.
Knit Cow
5″x7″ acrylic, 2009. This little painting is of one of the L’attitude Enfant series of adorable yarn animals that we got at Target. It is also another example of a toy that I think is irresistable and that Sonja really couldn’t care less about. We have a whole posse of these things and she barely acknowledges them. Hey, guess what her newest, proudest, loudest word of the week is? ELMO.