8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. Last night I amused myself by going through my archives and adding the tag “grown folks” to all portrait posts about toys belonging to grown-ups. Boy, I nearly ended up with carpel-tunnel! About a quarter of the portraits I’ve painted were commissioned as gifts for adults by people who dearly love the child within them. These toys are absolutely, irrefutably “portrait worthy!” This bear, Pookie, has belonged to Wanda’s niece Sara since she was a baby, and she is now 26. Pookie was named after the comic-strip character Garfield’s own bear. Wanda tells me that he was once much whiter and plumper, and his nose has been squashed and nearly worn away. Sara happened to bring Pookie along on a recent visit so that Wanda could covertly photograph him for me, and the portrait will be a Christmas gift for Sara from Wanda.
Tag: grown folks
Puppy the Puppy
5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. There are fifteen years between Lisa and her younger sister, but as children each had beloved stuffed puppies, both named “Puppy!” Lisa’s sister, now twenty, still brings this floppy-eared, brown-and-white pup along on all her travels. As a Christmas gift, Lisa envisioned a portrait of the toy with her sister’s favorite Tiffany blue as the background .
Toy Story Alien
9″x12″ acrylic, 2011. My customers are so much fun! The “models” for all three of Mary’s orders were sent without any setup, save for a few cryptic hints or instructions. The arrival of the first two illicited much excitement in this household, to say the least! The CatDog and Rugrat portraits were to be gifts for Mary’s grown sons, but one of the boys happened to stumble upon the paintings in Mary’s room. He advised her that the Rugrat portrait, which was intended for his brother, did not actually depict his true childhood favorite. So, deciding to keep the Rugrat painting for herself, Mary packed up another “suprise” model for me, emailing me only that he had three eyes! This stuffed Toy Story “Little Green Man” is actually extremely hefty. He’s about 12 inches tall and has hard plastic head and hands. Mary asked me to be sure to include his dimples, as they are a shared trait with the boy who loves this toy!
Rugrat
9″x12″ acrylic, 2011. Mary is giving her two boys, now 21 one and 23, portraits of their favorite childhood toys for Christmas, both of which are stuffed/doll versions of 90’s Nickelodeon characters. This Rugrat Tommy Pickles doll’s sheep costume was taken from another toy by one of the kids and was henceforth his permanent attire. The heart on the front of the wooly outfit is embroidered with the words “I love ewe.” For more Nickelodeon bizarro-cuteness, checkout my other portrait for the guys, which immortalizes their stuffed Catdog.
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Roland, Take 2
8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. *Sigh* So, you may have noticed that I have already painted this guy, who is the distinguished CEO of I Only Like Monsters. Over a month ago I mailed the original portrait to J, who writes the hilarious posts for Roland’s website, and just heard yesterday that it had not yet arrived. So after J and I jostled the USPS from both ends, I franticly re-painted the portrait and had my husband frame it, all in one afternoon. This morning I recieved word that the first portrait suddenly showed up on J’s doorstep! I must say that it was actually lots of fun to revisit Roland’s funny face and I enjoyed painting him again.
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CatDog
9″x12″ acrylic, 2011. It’s so much fun to paint toys for grown folks like Mary’s two sons, who are 21 and 23. The boys came of age in the high Nickelodeon era, and so, naturally, their favorite toys were both cute and slightly disturbing. Mary ordered portraits of each as Christmas presents for them, and was kind enough to mail me the actual toys rather than photos. The first of the two paintings depicts a stuffed CatDog, who comes equipped with a ratchet-y, bendable back which renders him slightly poseable. His cheery expression(s) made him very pleasant to spend time with and I’ll miss having him around!
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Roland
8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. Roland the Fingermonster is the CEO of the fantastic website I Only Like Monsters, which, each day, features a new toy monster. While J writes the very funny posts, Roland has creative and curatorial control over the content. J bought Roland as part of a package of fingerpuppets on a whim while in grad school. A hard drinker and a bad influence, Roland eventually convinced J to abandon her dissertation and provide him with an Ebay allowance. He purchased more and more friends, until J eventually began her website as a means to manage her houseful of creatures. When she happened upon my site, J figured that it would be appropriate for a CEO to have his official portrait painted! Check out Roland’s story here!
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Red Teddy and Scuppers
9″x12″ acryic, 2011. Here’s the second of two paintings in a multi-generational portrait project commissioned by Lynne for her family. While the first depicts the beloved toys of Lynne’s grandchildren, this painting commemorates their parents’ childhood favorites. Lynne’s daughter Julie was given Red Teddy when she was two years old. He was purchased by second-hand by Julie’s grandmother as a toy for her dogs, but Julie quickly claimed him for herself. Red Teddy was by Julie’s side through school, college, and into her grown-up life as a nurse and mother. Julie’s husband David loved the book “Scuppers the Sailor Dog” when he was small, and when his parents bought him this stuffed dog, it was named after the book. David continued to love boats and sailing all his life, eventually joining the Navy! Even though he ultimately became a physician, Lynne tells me that David would probobly rather be sailing than anything else. These two toys have witnessed so much of the lives of this husband and wife, making this a sort of sweet, symbolic portrait of the couple. Thanks to Lynne for a wonderful idea!
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Pound Puppy 2.0
5″x7″ acrylic, 2011.
This portrait might look a bit familiar… it is my second painting of Meriwether’s beloved Pound Puppy, which she has had since childhood. When she recieved the original portrait, her mother liked it so much that Meriwether decided to order another one for her, too! This situation was an exciting first for me, although it is not the first time I’ve painted the same subjects multiple times: Here are two versions of a squishy Hello Kitty, and two of Hamtaro and Totoro posing together.
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Pound Puppy
5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. I was very psyched about my very first vintage Pound Puppy portrait, but not as excited as my husband, a true child of the eighties whose collection even included a Pound Pur-r-rie. I’m just enough ahead of him in years that the Pound Puppy phenomenon was of little interest to me when it hit. But I get it! They were quirky and cute, a little tragic, and had that distinctiveness that made them classic. This little portrait of “Doggie” commemorates the childhood favorite of fabulously-named Meriwether, who commissioned the painting as a fun gift to herself.
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