8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. I’m thrilled and honored to have been entrusted with two full boxes of Barbara’s family treasures to paint! Most are beautiful wooden pull-toys hand made by her late father, but among them was nestled this well-worn stuffed Cookie Monster, which belongs to her grown son Benjamin. Barbara tells me that Benjamin, the oldest of five children, was obsessed with Cookie Monster and carried this toy with him everywhere — into sandboxes, riding on Big Wheels, and, of course, to bed. He has even survived being completely drenced in grape juice. So beloved is the toy that, when he left for college, Benjamin took along a stand-in Cookie Monster for fear of losing the original!