8″x10″ acrylic on canvas, 2014. Here’s the story of two attempts to capture a family’s most infamous tale using toys and paint. Liza came to me with a fully realized idea for a Christmas gift for her grown daughter using Fisher-Price Little People figures and the classic blue and yellow Little People house. She hoped to portray a frightening and cathartic story from Liza’s daughter’s youth, in which Liza discovered the little girl climbing around on the rooftop outside an open window. We discussed the details and composition of the painting and Liza initially decided that she’d like a 5″x7″ canvas. It was a challenge to make sure we saw a good portion of the house and still were able to make out the details of the figures in this small format, but I did my best:
However, Liza had hoped to see much more of the house in the painting, and felt that my zooming in on the figures did not accurately convey the dangerousness of the situation. She also asked that I alter the mother’s facial expression to show surprise or horror. We decided to re-do the whole thing in on an 8×10 canvas vertically so that the height of the house would be evident. That did the trick, and when I delivered the painting to Liza in person she seemed delighted! I’m so glad we were ultimately able to convey the gravity of such an important family drama to Liza’s satisfaction.
Tag: family portrait
Little People Portrait: Shelby’s Family
8″x10″ acrylic, 2013. As I joked several times while this Fisher-Price family portrait was in process was in process, it’s my first “six-figure” commission! I promise I won’t say it again. Represented here are Shelby’s 20-month-old twins Finn and Jane (brunette boy, blonde girl,) 6-year-old Molly dressed in blue, and Tanner, 8, sporting a jaunty orange cap. Shelby’s husband’s blonde brush-cut is approximated here in molded plastic, and I altered the vintage Fisher-Price blonde “mom” figure for Shelby’s dark hair. In order to make her preferences clear while were planning out this painting, Shelby made me an impressive photographic mock-up in which hair and faces on the classic toys were switched all around… It was incredibly helpful! Perhaps since Shelby is local she can teach me the ways of Photoshop beyond re-sizing images! Shelby says she never imagined that she’d end up having such a big, happy family and she’s interested to see how the kids view the portrait when they are older. (As of now, they are just indignant about the fact that Mom has no nose!)
Sharon’s Little People Family Portrait
8″x10″ acrylic, 2013. When she found me on etsy, a portrait of her family as Fisher-Price Little People seemed irresistibly inevitable to Sharon, a vintage Little People collector! We modified classic figures to better represent Sharon, her husband, their sons Patrick and Shannon, and daughter Jasmine. We used the standard red-capped tyke for both boys, dressing one in blue and one in yellow for differentiation. The hairstyle on this little girl, originally yellow, appears here in dark brown to match Jasmine’s. The mother figure’s yellow hair and dad’s classic dark brown have both been altered to meet in the middle as medium-blonde. My summer sale on Little People family group portraits continues!
Erin’s Little People Family Portrait
8″x10″ acrylic, 2013. I’ve painted many a Fisher-Price Little People family portrait, but have never used the iconic yellow-bibbed baby until now! This figure was one of my favorites as a child because it reminded me of a perfectly cooked hardboiled egg, which I suppose could just as easily make someone dislike it! Erin’s commissioned this portrait of herself, her husband, their baby girl, and their twin girl and boy. Both twins are blonde, she told me, but her daughter’s hair is a bit lighter in color. I took some liberties with the standard Fisher-price palette to achieve her son’s coiffure and Erin’s light brown hair, but the rest of the family is represented by existing, classic Little People.
Monchhichi Family
8″x10″ acrylic, 2013. So first of all, did you know that Monchhichi is spelled that way, with the two consecutive h’s? I didn’t until I began researching this project. Seems like an odd marketing choice, but there you go! This is the second family portrait commissioned by Dominic for his wife as Mother’s Day gifts. In last year’s version there were only Dominic, Cassandra, and Isaac, each represented by classic Fisher-Price Little People. With the addition of their new baby girl, Noa, this past August, Dominic decided to have a new portrait made of the family of four. I look forward to more of Dominic’s clever projects in the future as his family continues to grow!
Watch this video at your own risk — it will be stuck in your head FOREVER.
Little People Wedding Portrait
9″x12″ acrylic, 2013. This assignment combines two of my favorite portrait categories: The couple’s toy portrait and the Fisher-Price Little People family portrait! What could be a more romantic gift for a couple who both love classic ’70’s and ’80’s toys? Kerry tells me that Kate played with her Little People village constantly when she was a child, and that Kate’s fiancé Pete is a connoisseur of vintage toys. Kerry commissioned this painting as a gift for her sister Kate for her upcoming May wedding. I modified classic Fisher-Price figures to show Pete’s goatee, Kate’s hair color and recently-acquired glasses, and Kelly’s choice of clothing color for the two of them. Here’s to a long, happy life together for this fun-loving couple!
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Little People Portrait: Amy’s Family
8″x10″ acrylic, 2013. Amy first contacted me via etsy nearly a year ago, and we built up to the making of this Fisher-Price Little People family portrait via a slow-motion conversation. I’m actually glad it took us this long to get it going, because, by the time Amy sent me a current photo of her family, her little boy had grown from babyhood into a fully-formed toddler complete with lovely strawberry-blonde hair! This made it easy to choose the classic orange-bodied boy with wispy red hair and a sweet smile to stand for Amy’s son. I modified the standard yellow haired/blue bodied “mom” figure to have brown hair to match Amy’s, but her husband is well represented by the green-clad “dad” just as he is!
Koala, Snoopy, Woodstock
6″x8″ acrylic on cardboard, 2013. According to my very small sampling, if you’re a clever, funny personality on Twitter, you are highly likely to be attached to a stuffed Snoopy. This Snoopy and Woodstock are the childhood toys of clever, funny Twitterer and blogger Jett, and the koala belongs to her husband Maxim. Jett and Maxim’s children are also represented here by the absence of the koala’s nose and one of Snoopy’s eyes, which were worn off by their son. I love to make family or marriage portraits in which each spouse or family member is represented by his or her favorite toy. When Jett posted photos of these well-worn and highly significant specimens, I could not resist cobbling this portrait together as a thank you for her considerable kindness and support of my work!
Adam’s Family
8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. For this custom family portrait, Adam had to decide which vintage Fisher-Price Little People best represent his family. So that’s Adam’s oldest son, Dean, in the front with the baseball cap, and his strawberry-blonde son, Jon, on the right. But Adam figured that his wife, Jen, most resembled a little freckle-faced girl Little Person he’d seen in a photo I’d sent him. “I’m informed that’s a kid,” he wrote me, “so perhaps you could put freckles on a brown-haired woman?” I love a modification challenge! The classic “mom” features and the cheery freckles combined nicely. And for Adam himself? “Non-descript dude (classic green-bodied ‘dad’) works for me!” The portrait will be a Christmas gift from Adam to Jen.
Jolene’s Little People Family Portrait
20″x24″ acrylic, 2012. You read that right — this painting of tiny little toys is quite huge! In fact, their scale is enlarged about 500%, according to my math-inclined husband. I’ve been taking some liberties with colors and style within the general design of the classic Little People to more closely represent the members of the family members in these custom vintage Fisher-Price family portraits . In this case, Jolene, who found me on Etsy, has been given a brownish head of hair that (as far as I can find) was not actually made in combination with a red dress. Jolene is planning her nursery decor for her baby twin girls, who will be born in December. Initially, she wanted to order a large print of my classic Little People trio painting, but loved the idea of having a piece specifically representing her family (and their dog, Rex!) I absolutely love the tension in scale of this painting — I never would have thought to paint such small figures so large, and the effect is amazing! Great idea, Jolene!