Tag: plastic

Two Cowboys

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

5″x9″ acrylic on board, 2012. I wonder if my two vintage, wooden Fisher Price Little People cowboys have any idea how laden with significance they seem to be? I posed them on this chess board just because it was handy. However, my husband, who rarely comments on my painting, said “I like your cowboys! What are you trying to say by positioning them as king and queen on that chess board?” My father, upon seeing the painting, remarked “When you played with these 35 years ago you were obsessed about them as models for the perfect man in your life. You just couldn’t decide between red or yellow hat, so you married one that doesn’t wear a hat.” Okay…

UPDATE: My dad made up the thing about my embuing them with creepy symbolism. Thanks Dad!

Owl Finger Puppet

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. We bought three of these little guys in different colors from the gift shop at the wonderful Saratoga Children’s Museum. Sonja barely had to point at them and I was already gathering them up, saying, “of course we’re getting these!” I actually don’t often encounter toys that I’m moved to buy, but when I do, there is no hesitation. Rarely one to use a toy for its intended purpose, today Sonja stuffed this poor finger-puppet full to bursting with “noise putty.” Fun! And gross!

Boy Boy

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

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!

Little Fatty Face

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. In the delicious (but always a bit worrisome) lull which follows my anual holiday portrait blitz, I’m just painting what I like between my smattering of commissions. And I do like this duck! He’s one of a zillion that Sonja has managed to collect over the course of her four years, and, to me, he’s the best one. I absolutely adore how his double chin wraps around and connects to his back-of-the-neck fat. Hence his name: Little Fatty Face, which was originally my pet name for baby Sonja until I realized that it might scar her for life! But this duck has a flaw which he shares with about 90% of rubber ducks on the market, it seems: He floats on his side. What’s up, rubber duckie designers? Is form is more important that function? Well, I did choose to paint this one over other more upright, less adorable specimens…

Sophie the Giraffe

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

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

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

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.

Ariel

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. At long last, my first “Barbie” commission! Well, it’s actually a Disney Princess Ariel the Mermaid, presented Barbie-style by Disney and Mattel. This princess is a queen amongst all the Barbies belonging to 4-year-old Annie, whose aunt Stacey will be giving portraits to her two nieces of their favorite toys as Christmas gifts. “Annie lives to dance, sing and spin, just like the princesses she adores,” Stacy tells me. “She is destined to spend some serious time on stage.” Click here to see Annie’s sister Lily’s beloved baby doll!

Toy Story Alien

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

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

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

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.

Order a print of this painting:









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More info about prints here.

Roland, Take 2

Posted on by Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait

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.

Order a print of this painting:









Print Sizes

















More info about prints here.