8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. Nothing makes a toy more irresitable than the magic a parent can work to bring it to life! Annabelle, who turns two next month, has loved this kitty ever since her father imbued it with a frisky, mischievous personality. Annabelle’s mother, Jessica, tells me that Kitty is a great comforter and travel companion — he’s been to Cozamel, Key West, Grand Cayman, and Disney World! Annabelle ends each day by snuggling Kitty to her in bed and telling him, “I love you to the moon and back, Kitty.” As I worked on this portrait, it occured to me that this is only the third commission I’ve ever gotten to paint a stuffed cat, our of nearly 300 toy portraits (excluding paintings of our family’s own toy kitties)… isn’t that odd? I have always thought that cat faces just don’t translate well into stuffed toys. There is always some curve or proportion that gets lost and leaves the toy cat looking sort of pinched and unpleasant. The minimalist perfection of Hello Kitty is an exception to this phenomenon, as is, of course, Annabelle’s Kitty.
Tag: custom portrait
Brooks Brothers Bear
8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. Natasha’s two-and-a-half year old son Nate has a penchant for argyle sweater vests, so it’s only natural that he adores this dapper Brooks Brothers bear. The two have been inseparable ever since Nate’s aunt gave him the bear, which Nate named “Todd,” in 2010. The Brooks Brothers company tells me that they call this spiffy bear “Brooksy,” and he’s offered as a seasonal item. A significant portion of the profits go to their partners at the Make-a-Wish foundation. Natasha won this custom portrait as part of a massive giveaway hosted by blogger Jessica Gottlieb in celebration of reaching 20,000 followers on Twitter back in September!
Shaggy and Woofy
8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. This is a clever sort of portrait of a married couple, represented here by their favorite childhood toys! Susan commissioned this painting as a baby shower gift for her daughter, Kim, and Kim’s husband C.J., who are expecting in May. Shaggy is Kim’s beloved bear, and Woofy, who is a Gund Snuffles bear endearingly interpreted to be a dog, belongs to C.J. You can see other examples of group family toy portraits here, here, and here. Susan also had me paint a vintage Snoopy blanket-head last year for her son, who is now also expecting a baby!
Boy Boy
8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. Oh, the expression on this face! I imagine that there is some sort of insertable pacifier or bottle that goes along with this very cute doll, but in its absence we can see through his mouth a slight sunlit glow within his faintly translucent head. Boy Boy belongs to Henry, the three-year-old son of Kelly who, aside from being a very entertaining blogger, is HANDS-DOWN the funniest twitterer on Twitter these days! Henry recieved Boy Boy as a Christmas gift in 2010 and the doll has rarely left his side since. He also enjoys hiding his baby in the evenings in order to prolong bedtime — clever kid, just like his mama!
Hiyu (Pet Portrait)
9″x12″ acylic, 2012. What a lovely change of scenery! It’s novel and thrilling for me to have the opportunity to paint a beloved pet, and wonderful to see such intelligence and personality gazing back at me. This portrait of Hiyu, who passed two years ago, was commissioned by Heidi as a gift for Hiyu’s owners, Heidi’s dear friends. Heidi tells me that Hiyu was an incredibly sweet, 60 pound lap dog who acted like a puppy to the very end! I had the pleasure of commemorating Heidi’s own pet dog Murphy last year, and her daughter’s adorable stuffed hippo in 2009.
Sophie the Giraffe
8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. A couple of months ago, Colleen from Saratoga Mama brilliantly suggested that I should paint a Sophie the Giraffe so that I could make prints available of the classic, iconic teething toy. This particular Sophie is one of several(!) recieved by my close friends’ sweet new baby, Ian. Here, Sophie stands atop Ian’s blue Boppy, where I also posed Ian’s stuffed owl. These giraffes, currently a go-to status baby gift, have been made in France since the fifties. Here’s a wonderful video showing how these hand-painted, natural rubber are made:
Prints of the Sophie portrait can be ordered here!
Fleagle
8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. I’m sure that this is not an uncommon position for favorite toys to find themselves in these days, propped up or flung upon various technological accoutrements! I was unreasonably excited when Clint, this pup’s owner, gave me the thumbs-up to include the phone and the computer mouse in the final portrait. So modern! Fleagle was originally given to Clint’s younger sister by their parents when they were little, but Clint was more interested in him and quickly claimed ownership. The toy has traveled with Clint into adulthood and now into the arms of his own little girl, Mia, who is highly amused by the wacky personality which Clint has infused in Fleagle via a sort of puppetry! Clint recieved a gift certificate for this custom portrait from his sister-in-law Deanna.
Emerson’s Bunny
8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. While painting this bunny, I was absolutely mesmerized by the rich, pinkish-coral of this bunny’s inner ear. I appreciate a not-quite pink in a world of cotton-candy colored toys! This Jellycat bunny is the least-tattered and grungy of 3 identical bunnies (two are back-ups, but all are in use, OF COURSE) belonging to Morgan’s daughter Emerson. The original bunny was purchased for Emerson before she was born by her excited father. Morgan tells me that Emerson will not let her throw away the older, disintegrated bunnies, and actually seems to prefer them to the newest! Emerson loves to suck on the ears, so those are usually the first to go. This portrait will be a gift for Emerson from Morgan for her upcoming second birthday.
Oscar’s Bass
9″x12″ acrylic, 2012. When he was very small, ten-year-old Oscar fell in love with fishing at his Uncle Howie’s own well-stocked pond. Oscar’s mother Katya tells me that the fish were so plentiful that they practically jumped on the hook, and that thrilling experience guaranteed that Oscar was hooked as well! This fish is a large mouth bass that Oscar caught at the pond about four years ago. This is the first in a series of paintings Katya is having done of Oscar’s very favorite catches. Oscar was also the recipient of my Lego Bobafett portrait!
Ian’s Owl
5″x7″ acrylic, 2012. As soon my dear friends Jon and Brian began the process of adopting a baby, their friend Mary rushed out immediately and bought this owl. Since that point, a couple of years fraught with anticipation and frustration culminated in the very recent addition of baby Ian to their family. Jon and Brian made sure that this owl, which is certainly symbolic of the support and will of their loved ones, was tucked in next to Ian as soon as he safely home. While visiting the adorable baby, I was able to take my own photos of the little toy, and I can tell you that it is incredibly soft and has a sort of comical presence. It’s made by an offshoot of Tomy called My Natural. If I had a chance, I might advise the company the their little sewn logo by the owl’s foot looked alarmingly like an angry alien face to me before I found out that it was a stem-and-leaf motif!