Tag: blanket-head

Fritters and Fritters The Other One

5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. Kit, who is almost three, started with just one monkey. It was given to her at birth by her grandmother, and naturally the “back-up” monkey was discovered and absorbed into everyday use. The monkey blanket-heads are known as “Fritters” and “Fritters The Other One,” a fantastic variation on the “Lovey” and “Other Lovey” template for naming twin toys that I often see! The spotted green blanket behind the monkeys is also a beloved favorite. This portrait is one of two commissioned by Kit’s mother Beth for her daughters, so check back soon to see five-year-old Elsie’s giraffes “Tito” and “Tito The Other One!”

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Bunny and Rainbow Blanket

5×7 acrylic, 2011. Holy moly, this portrait packed a lot of textural challenges into one tiny painting! Check out this furry white bunny with a soft blue blanket/body trimmed with satin reclining against a crocheted, rainbow-patterned blanket. This is one of two portraits which will be Christmas gifts for Katie’s two small sons, and both feature the winning combination of blanket-heads and blankets!

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More info about prints here.

Pooh Bear

5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. I really enjoy an opportunity to paint a new version of a stuffed toy I have encountered in the past. This classic Winnie-the-Pooh blanket-head sports a yellow blanket, and last year I had the pleasure of painting a similar Pooh whose blanket was pink. In this second of two portraits commissioned by Katie for her sons, Pooh rests against a blue blanket which is also a special favorite. This Pooh represents my favorite variation on the blanket-head theme, in that it appears to hold the blanket in its arms rather than having a blanket as a sort of totally limbless body! Adorable side-note: Katie’s son chose this pose for Pooh because it looked most like “her.”

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Oliver’s Elephant

5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. Oliver has many close friends, but this elephant blanket is his main squeeze. It’s so special that it warrants its own separate portrait, while the rest of Oliver’s adorable cribmates share another canvas entirely. Oliver’s mother Allisyn commissioned both portraits for his upcoming first birthday. Working on this piece reminded me so much of the portrait I made of Heather Armstrong’s daughter’s lovey, which was another sweet elephant blanket-head personalized with the child’s embroidered name.

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Breckin’s Giraffe

5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. Last year, my neighbor Colleen found me via a local Etsy search and had me paint her daughter Emilia’s pink bunny blanket-head. It was close to Christmas when I delivered the portrait, and I felt like Santa Claus pulling my daughter and Colleen’s package around town on a sled! She told me then that whenever her baby boy came to attach to a particular toy, she would commission a portrait of his favorite too. As it turns out, Breckin also chose a blanket-head as his favorite, this time a sleepy, funny-faced giraffe. Just as Emilia’s bunny did in her portrait, the giraffe blanket reclines on another special blanket, which is amusingly “meta” to me. I’m also honored to have painted Colleen’s beloved (real) cat, which I will post tomorrow!

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Puppy and Bear

5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. Ding ding ding! The bells are going off as Patrick racks up Awesome Husband points for finding his wife a unique and special birthday gift. When she happened upon my website a couple of months ago, Patrick’s wife mentioned in passing that she would really like a portrait of their children’s two loveys. I wonder if he let on that he had tuned into that, or, as my husband might do to fake me out, just made an affirmative noise while staring at his phone? Patrick covertly commissioned a little portrait of Puppy and Bear, belonging to Liam (1) and Jack (3), respectively. Jack’s favorite part of Bear is his tail, which is well-worn, and Liam loves the silky undersides of Puppy’s ears. I hope that this portrait preserves a sweet, fleeting period in the boys’ childhood for years to come!

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Snoopy Blanket

8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. I must say that I’m stunned by this rather “antique” specimen of a blanket-head! I had thought the the blanket-with-a-head phenomenon was fairly recent, but this Snoopy was the childhood companion of a man who is now 30 years old! It’s just barely three-dimensional, its head and hands lying rather flatly against the blanket, so it’s not quite the literal hybrid of fully-formed stuffed animal and blanket that you find today. Susan commissioned this portrait for her son in honor of the upcoming birth of his first child!

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Bear and Dog

8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. Six-month-old Thomas sleeps through the night only when tucked in with his bear blanket, and during the day this blue Gund dog rattle is his favorite. Thomas’ father Bob vividly describes the circumstances: “Lord knows my wife and mother-in-law have buried this child under toys, yet he always seems to dig through them to find this dog rattle to shove in his mouth!” Bob thoughtfully envisioned this painting as a Mother’s Day gift for his very loved and lucky wife!

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Lily’s Bunny

5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. The many well-intended gifts we recieve for our newborn babies can be overwhelming… this bunny blanket was stashed in a closet when Lily was a few weeks old, but would later prove to be very important. After battling a tongue-thrust issue as a baby, it was recommended that Lily be given a substitute for her binky in order to aid her developing speech. The bunny was swapped for the binky, and has been her companion ever since. Lily’s mother Emma points out that the left ear, Lily’s favorite, is dirtier than the right, and that the nose is a bit unraveled. After many near-losses of the bunny, it was decided that it would “live” in Lily’s bed only! This portrait will be a gift for Lily’s upcoming third birthday, immortalizing Pink Bunny… just in case.

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Kathryn’s Doggy

5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. It’s fascinating to hear about the differing reactions of children to the existence of multiples of their favorite toys — sometimes the “back-up” is simply brought into the fold so that there are two constant companions. I haven’t yet heard about parents successfully rotating identical toys without the child catching on! In this case, “spare” Doggy blankets were simple not accepted by baby Kathryn at all — she immediately knew the difference, of course. Last year, Virginia ordered a portrait of her daughter Jane’s ducky blanket, and now Jane’s older sister Kathryn, now five, will have one of her one and only Doggy.

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