9″x12″ acrylic, 2012. Check out the expression on two-year-old Carter’s face! Those Star Wars squeeze toys are his, a birthday gift from his mother’s best friend, but it seems that big brother Grant has taken them over. Even though Grant, five, has never seen the movies, he loves to act out elaborate scenes with these rather infantalized versions of the classic Star Wars characters. Whatever — Carter will just be hanging out over here with Elmo. The boys love bath time, and their mother Laura commissioned this painting (which she calls “Toy Envy”) to hang in the family’s bathroom. The Star Wars tub toys were made by Disney.
Tag: sesame street
Ernie and Bert Little People
5″x7″ acrylic, 2012. You really can’t pack any more vintage, classic goodness into a toy than you will find in a Fisher-Price Little People Sesame Street figure! This painting of the Ernie and Bert Little People is for 22-month-old Andy, whose mother Jessica found me on Etsy. Jessica has gone out of her way to stock Andy’s toybox with vintage items wherever it seems that the modern incarnation is inferior in terms of design and craftsmanship (almost everywhere!) Andy is obsessed with Ernie and Bert and particularly loves the Little People versions of them. Jessica notes that there these two guys are some of the least annoying tv characters that a child could latch on to, so she considers herself very lucky!
Cookie Monster
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!
Grover and Bear
8″x10″ acrylic, 2009. These are the favorite toys of Paul, an old friend of mine and an ADULT! I’m extremely psyched to be asked to paint time-tested toys that have hung around so long that they have come to subtley exude their owners’ style and character. Trust me, this Grover does just that. Also, I’m pleased to get to paint a classic Sesame Street personality after recently tackling nkotb Abby Cadabby!
Abby
8″x10″ acrylic, 2009. This is the second toy-and-painting gift combo I’ve done this fall… I think it’s a great idea. This portrait and the doll who sat for it will be a Christmas gift for Amelia, Thomas and Nora‘s cousin who lives in California. Although none of us old Sesame Street purists can understand the charm of Abby Cadabby, little Amelia goes completely bonkers whenever this rather quesionable female archtype shows up on TV. No Amelia, you cannot be a fairy when you grow up.