Tag: acrylic

Emmett’s Hippo

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

9″x12″ acrylic, 2011. Simplicity prevails when it comes to this irresistable stuffed hippo. Emmett, now four, was given Hippo as a Christmas gift by his grandmother when he was two. The hippo immediately displaced all the more colorful and seemingly attractive toys in the house in Emmett’s affections. Hippo sleeps with Emmett every night, and has even traveled to Italy with him. Emmett’s mother Andrea tells me that now Emmett’s one-year-old sister adores Hippo too, so toy companies, take note – less is more!

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Collin’s Bear

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. This portrait is the second of two paintings won last year in a blockbuster Design Mom holiday jackpost giveaway. The big winner was Jo, and of her son Collin’s favorite things, she chose his toy ukulele and this wonderful blue bear to be painted. I love that the bear is sporting a rather boyish shirt along with a silky bow at the neck. He’s well rounded! He’s seated next to the same gorgeous avian pillow that appeared in the Ukulele portrait. Jo tells me that the arrival of these portraits might help Collin feel loved and special during the difficult adjustment to a new baby in the family.

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Collin’s Ukulele

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. Here is one of two paintings which were won over a year ago in an amazing giveaway over at Design Mom! The giveaway included a pair of my custom portraits as one part of a huge jackpot of goodies, and Jo was the lucky winner. Jo and I fell in and out of correspondence over the ensuing year. As she pondered which of her son Collin’s toys to choose, Jo did some world traveling and had another baby! At long last, here is Collin’s very special ukulele. I was delighted by the beautiful pillow beside it, not only due to my recent pillow-painting binge, but because of the sweet mama bird/baby birds motif… so appropriate for Jo at this point in her life!

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Grey Bunny

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. I’m really enjoying that many of the recent toys I’ve painted have been propped against pretty pillows! It could be that I am exceedingly sleepy as I write this, but the sweet embroidery and smooth texture of this pillowcase is just fascinating to me. This much-loved bunny, known simply as “Lovey,” belongs to a new high-school graduate. The portrait was commissioned by Debi, a close friend of her mother, and will be a graduation gift.
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Licorice

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. The most important part of this stuffed Blabla “Licorice” dog is not shown in this portrait. it is, of course, his tag! Like many little children, three-year-old Lucas finds the tag on his favorite toy to be the element most deserving of his attention. My own Sonja was also obsessed with tags, which was such an amusing suprise to me, as I had never heard of this phenomenon! Here she is, obsessing over the “best” part of a little pink bear:

Lucas has had this floppy toy, which he simply calls “Dog,” since he was a tiny baby. His mother, Amy, tells me that he loves to suck his fingers while snuggling with him. This portrait will be a gift for Lucas’ upcoming fourth birthday.

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Grey Kitten

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. I love to paint toys that resemble our family’s own favorites, and this grey kitten is so similar to Sonja’s beloved Kitty that I could practically feel her floppy, fuzzy weight in my hands as I worked. This custom portrait was won by Mandana at an auction benefiting a pre-school. She chose her niece Lola’s best-loved stuffed cat as the subject, nestled into Lola’s favorite blanket. I was invited to donate a painting to this auction by Lisa, who cleverly displayed my portrait of her own daughter’s toy at the event as incentive!

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Two Henries

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. Stephanie’s husband grew up toting his stuffed dog Henry everywhere he went. When he found that the vintage ’70’s “Henry” design had gone back into production, he bought a new Henry for his 18-month-old daughter for Christmas. Strephanie commissioned this portrait of the two Henries as a Father’s Day gift for her husband. I must admit that my favorite thing about this project is that researching these toys led me to discover the origins of my own childhood favorite lion! I was struck by the familiar yellow fur and distinctive black belly-button, which the Henries share with my “Hubert.” Sure enough, like the classic Henry, my lion was made in the ’70’s by Animal Fair. Animal Fair became Princess Soft Toys, which is evidently in the process of being absorbed by Melissa and Doug. The lions were given away with new accounts at Chicago-area Harris Bank in the earlly ’70’s, which is where my parents got mine. Portraits of Hubert are here and here, and a painting of an identical Harris bank lion can be seen here. This was my first opportunity to paint old and new versions of a classic toy together, and I think it’s wonderfully symbolic of the parent and child who love them!

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Trena, Monkey, Firetruck

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

9″x12″ acrylic, 2011. Well, this portrait was by far my most complex assignment! Cam, who is in his thirties, will present the painting to his mother as a belated Mother’s Day gift. The toys depicted are the favorites of her three children. I was provided with enough photographs showing the toys at various stages of wear and tear to paper the walls of my studio! Cam had a very helpful (but challenging) laundry list of requests for the painting. Trena, the baby doll, belonged to Cam’s older sister, and only required a little pinkness restored to her cheeks. Cam’s own unusual, stuffed monkey required more attention: I was to restore his orignal black and yellow body, as it has since been almost entirely replaced with patterned fabric. However, the color of his face was to be shown in it’s current “tan” condition rather than the original pristine white. A banana once held in the monkey’s hand is now entirely worn away, and Cam wanted the banana’s absence to be evident, as it marks the monkey as “his.” Sadly, the firetruck had been the last favorite toy of the eldest son just before he passed away as a very small child. Cam’s mother had recently had it fully restored save for its original lettering on the sides, so I worked from very old photos to add the white design to the new glossy red paint job. We agonized over the composition, and at long last the portrait came together. I hope that Cam’s mother enjoys this celebration of her childrens’ happiest moments! If you’d like to see another portrait I’ve done of a crazy-looking stuffed monkey, click here, and here for another vintage firetruck!

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Monster

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

11″x14″ acrylic, 2011. When she was a newborn, Three-year-old Nadia’s grandmother bought her this furry, stuffed frog. Unsure of it’s intended species, Grandma simply referred to it as “the green monster.” His name evolved into “Wally the Green Monster,” but he came to be called simply “Monster” by Nadia as she grew increasingly attached to him. While he does not actually attend preschool with Nadia, he does ride with her in the car and come along to pick her up at the end of the day. Nadia brings Monster to her new baby brother to comfort him when he cries. This is the second of Nadia’s toys that I’ve painted — you can see her spotted blanket/dog Freckles here!

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Blue Monster, Green Teether

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. The boy who loves this pair of toys had quite a challenging start to his life! Born at 24 weeks after a pre-eclampsia event, his mother had barely begun to put together his nursery. She had just purchased this Zubel’s hand-knit blue monster the weekend before. After the birth, amidst the avalanche of presents from friends and family, the monster remained the baby’s only special gift from Mama. Now a year old, he is thriving! This portrait will be a gift for the baby’s mother from her friend Allisyn. This green plastic teether is also so well-liked that his mother bought one just like it for Allisyn’s own baby!

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