8″x10″ acrylic on canvas, 2013. Having painted a couple of hundred stuffed bears over the past few years, I’m somewhat immune to their charms. However, as soon as I laid eyes on Mike, the whole raison d’etre for Your Toy Portrait came rushing back to me! Mike’s owner, Michael, a blogger and amusing Twitter presence known as “The Muskrat,” was given this Gund bear about 30 years ago. His father, an Air Force pilot who travelled a lot, brought home a bear for each of his sons on his return from a trip. Michael and his brother Kevin named the bears Mike and Bobby, respectively. In order to tell them apart, both bears were dressed in Underoos — Mike’s are Superman, and Bobby wears Batman. I can’t get over the way thirty years of wear and tear and love molded this bear of once-average cuteness into this freakishly adorable thing!