8″x10″ acrylic on canvas, 2009. Lily’s very clever mom had back-ups of these two, so she was able to send me the actual stuffed animals to paint from! It was a challenging project for a couple of reasons. First, these are tiny stuffed heads attached to what are essentially fileted flying squirrel. Continue reading “Dog and Duck Blankies”
Category: Toy Portraits
Custom portraiture and paintings of Sonja’s toys
Burberry Chicken
8″x10″ acrylic on canvas, 2009. This stylish chicken was given to 5-year-old Oona by awesome artist Ralph Steadman! He’s the guy who drew all those famous, wild illustrations of Hunter S. Thompson, among many other things, and he worked with Oona’s mom at a literary agency. Apparently Oona has lately been focusing her affections on a somewhat more “glamorous” toy, but her little sister Daphne, 3, has taken him under her wing.
Brown Giraffe
5″x7″ acrylic on canvas, 2009. What would I do without my mother’s ridiculous garage sale radar? I think that I would have about 25% of my current possessions and my daughter would be naked and really bored. Continue reading “Brown Giraffe”
an early toy portrait
29″x40″, oil on canvas 1996. I did lots of self-portraits in college and grad school because I was always available to model! Here’s one from 1996, and obviously even then I could not resist painting my stuffed animals. This picture features Tigger and a lion called Hubert — he was a give-away at a bank where my mom opened an account when I was a baby. Note the sweet mid-century modern furniture, which unfortunately did not belong to me but was fun to paint.
Crinkle Bee/Peter Rabbit
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8×10″, acrylic on canvas, 2009. Our baby-shower gift registry had one general preference listed: NO PINK! Yeah, that did not last past the first “Oh, he’s adorable!” And besides, no-one listened. One shower gift that we recieved that I almost threw in the trash in horror was this pink bee with crinkley wings. It had hard, lumpy, squeeze-activated, whiney music player that made me want to jump out a window. My mother covertly removed the music tumor, re-sewed its belly, and put in the hands of Sonja who of course LOVED it. Oh, well. In this portrait it is paired with my husband’s adorable childhood Peter Rabbit in order to balance good and evil.
This painting arrives wired for hanging and framed simply in pine.
$140 plus $7 shipping
Lila’s Lamby
8″x10″ acrylic on canvas, 2009. I’m that crazy lady with the camera at your kid’s birthday party who takes a zillion pictures (to make up for my terrible photograpy skills — thank goodness for the excess that digital allows for!). But what makes my paparazzing a bit unusual is my tendancy to focus on the children’s toys and stuffed animals. Always in search of fun subject matter! We recently took Sonja to her friend Lila’s 2nd birthday party and got to meet her VIP possession “Lamby.” But perhaps the most significant thing about that event for me was my introduction to Lila’s mommy’s native cuisine, the Utica Tomato Pie!
Totoro/Hamtaro
9×12″, acrylic on canvas, 2009. This dual portrait was so nice I had to make it twice! It was sold during my recent show at Uncommon Grounds, and someone who had seen it and wanted to give it to his girlfriend for her birthday was really disappointed. He called me while I was on vacation in Delaware and explained his situation, and I offered to try my best to reproduce it quickly upon my return… Continue reading “Totoro/Hamtaro”
Choo Choo Chicken/Ikea Bear
9×12 oil on canvas 2005 — I have to confess — I not-so-accidently misplaced this white bear when we moved into this house. I just always got a bad vibe from it. I bought it at Ikea many years ago, liking it’s bizarre proportions, but it had a weasel-y, unpleasant expression and creepy felt claws. I never wanted it to be in the room with the baby, so now it’s gone. However, the chicken in this picture has become Sonja’s most crucially important toy!
This painting arrives wired for hanging and framed simply in pine.
$100.00 plus $7 shipping
Don Gato
Baby Sonja has a special cat!
He is made of yarn and not so fat!
His red and orange and stripey (myow myow myow)
And he rocks a purple sweater (myow myow myow)
and in Spanish he’s “Don Gato!”
This painting arrive wired for hanging and framed simply in pine.
$70 plus $7 shipping
(category: Toy Portrait Series. tags: single portrait, cat, acrylic)
Squishy Kitty
5×7 acrylic on canvas, 2009. Say “Hello” to this squeezeable Kitty. She is definately the cutest stress-reliever on anybody’s desk. Or, as is the case at our house, on anybody’s high-chair tray getting Cheerios smashed into her non-existant mouth.
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