8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. On their travels from Chicago to their Vermont vacation destination, Osh and his family were kind enough to stop into my studio so that we could all meet face-to-face! I was able to photograph the absolutely beloved Osh, a Ty beanie toy, while eight-year-old Mia stood protectively by. Despite Mia’s parents’ reservations regarding Osh’s recently acquired green shirt (reading “Adler Planetarium,”) but Mia felt very strongly that it should be immortalized along with the elephant in her portrait. Osh, who Mia tells me is a girl, was a Christmas gift to Mia when she was one month old from her aunt. As I worked on the painting this week I found myself veering into a rather old-school Richard Scarry sort of color palette, perhaps because Osh reminds me of the whimsical toys that Scarry painted for his little animal children characters…

And here is a photo of Mia and Osh at our house after his photo shoot. I wish I could meet more of my “models” in “person!” df