8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. As I’ve said before, you can choose a hand-stitched Waldorf doll or tone-on-tone felted owl from Etsy for your child, but the heart wants what the heart wants. Resign yourself to pink plastic or, perhaps, a color-blocked polyester velour dog. Phoebe was given to Arianna when she was very small by the family’s nanny, Lili. Both Arianna and her little sister Caroline adore Phoebe and love to dress her in brightly patterned outfits which further enhance her primary colors. She has lost limbs and her nose repeatedly over time, but Lili always lovingly sews Phoebe up as good as new. The books in this portrait belonged to the girls’ father when he was a child and in turn became favorites of Arianna and Caroline. This set of four by Maurice Sendak is called “The Nutshell Library,” and includes “Chicken Soup With Rice,” “Pierre,” “Alligators All Around,” and “One Was Jonny.” I have written about “Chicken Soup With Rice” in a past post, as it is the one book that I read every single night to my own daughter and was a huge part of my own childhood! This painting is one of two portraits commissioned by Heidi of her daughter’s favorite things. You can see my portrait of Caroline’s Lammy here.
Tag: vintage
Vintage Drawing Book: Make A World
It is an exciting and rare occasion in our house when my husband breaks out a mechanical pencil and starts to draw. He has always made tiny, meticulous renderings of long parades of vehicles, in recent years usually under the guise of an explanation or description of something for our daughter. I’ve always been baffled at how he can get the general abstract shape of a truck or a helicopter correct without looking at one. Well! Recently he stumbled upon this 1972 book “Make a World” by Ed Emberly and excitedly explained that he had obsessed over it as a child.
Inside are a zillion everyday objects broken down with charming simplicity and humor…
The tiny scale and blocky, basic instructional nature of these drawings appeals perfectly to Greg, who also adores models and Lego kits. So now, he has Sonja imagine a scenario for him to draw and he makes it come to life via the templates in this book. Below, “Two Dragons Getting Married.”
My sister Jill wondered how an animal drawn via this method would translate to full-page size…
Ha! I think it holds up!
Pinkie
5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. Six-year-old Lily has adored this doll, “Pinkie,” since she herself was a small baby. Lily’s aunt, Stacy, describes Lily as having an ever-present smile and as being a family hero as she struggles each day with cerebral palsy. “As she transitions to ‘big girl-hood,” Stacy writes, “I know this portrait will be perfect for her.” For Christmas, Stacy commissioned portraits of each of her two nieces’ favorite toys. Pinkie was a true pleasure to paint as I am seldom asked to paint traditional babydolls!
Freddie
This OBVIOUSLY well-loved orange bear belongs to 33-year-old Lisa. Her father Frank tells me that “Freddie” has been Lisa’s constant companion all her life, but was misplaced and found several times. During one of his disappearances, two unsuccessful substitutes were brought in. They came to be known as “Freddie II” and “Guys,” the latter so named because he was purchased at the now-defunct Two Guys department store! “The substitutes held minor positions in Lisa’s stuffed animal cabinet,” Frank wrote, “but Freddie was always Prime Minister.” Fisher Price sold this “Freddy Teddy” toy from 1975-1981. Lisa altered the spelling of his name to the much more distinguished “Freddie” herself.
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Books: Babar and Father Christmas
I love Babar, but somehow I had never come across this incredibly bizarre Christmas book until this week! Let me just skip to the best part, in which we see a cross-section of Father Christmas’ UNDERGROUND LAIR. Did you know that he lives in a cave in Bohemia? 
And that his home is protected to violent, snowball-chucking dwarfs?
So, that’s weird, but the strangest thing about this story to me is Babar’s meandering quest to find Father Christmas. Along the way, the narrator provides unnnecessary but somehow comforting detail about Babar’s hotel room and digresses about the pleasures of washing up after a long journey. He then mistakes a homeless guy for Father Christmas…
…and spends several pages discussing dead languages with a “famous professor.”
Apparently in 1940, the French did not condescend to children by over-simplifying even life’s imaginary adventures!
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.
Order a print of this painting:
More info about prints here.
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!
Order a print of this painting:
More info about prints here.
Mini-Bus
8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. Our nephews are absolutely mad for things that go! I painted a wooden train for choo-choo crazy Sean when he was two. Today is Sean’s little brother Kevin’s second birthday, and since he loves any and all vehicles, I thought I’d paint my favorite vintage Fisher-Price toy bus for him. At his party tonight many toes were run over by new trucks, buses, and remote-control cars!
Order a print of this painting:
More info about prints here.
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!
Order a print of this painting:
More info about prints here.
Bedtime Books
Forget Goodnight Moon. I’m here to tell you that the most hypnotic, soothing book ever written is Maurice Sendak’s Chicken Soup With Rice: A Book of Months. There is no eating of chicken soup going on in our mostly-vegetarian household, but nearly every night I knock my daughter out with this collection of twelve sweetly surreal little rhymes.
This copy survived a similar role in my own childhood. Researching the book just now, I notice that Carole King evidently made it into a song, but I refuse to listen to it! I just don’t want anything to displace the way it has always sounded to me.
I suspect you won’t often find this on the Golden Book rack at your grocery store, although it was reprinted in 2008. Another gem from my 1970’s youth, Little Mommy paints a scandalously outdated portrait of motherhood. And yet I read it to Sonja all the time. She is not at all confused or suprised by its cliches, because it perfectly mirrors our own day-to-day existence. I’m at home washing dishes, clothes, and babies, and Daddy is off at work. I was once a modern woman – how did this happen? At any rate, the pictures are gorgeous…
…so I just try to provide a little context as I read. Also, the little girl looks just like Sonja. 
I am a new convert to The Pigeon. Many friends have tried to hype the Mo Willems Pigeon books to me, but Don’t Let The Pigeon Drive The Bus was read to us at a library storytime in a very uninspired manner, and I just wasn’t having any more of it. And then, after battling later and later bedtimes with Sonja, I picked up Don’t Let The Pigeon Stay Up Late. Although it does nothing to help her sleep, we have a ball re-reading this page a bazillion times: 