Custom Toy Portrait » Sold

Hoo Hoo

Custom Toy Portrait — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:03:40 +0000

5″x7″ oil, 2005. Our Sonja, who is almost two, is under the impression that owls and penguins are the same animal. She’s not as familiar with real owls and penguins as she is the abstract variations of illustration, animation, and toy design, so I guess it’s understandable. This little owl is one of a the elite group of toys who live in Sonja’s crib. She is extra interested in him right now because she likes Little Bear (the show and the books) and is convinced that Little Bear’s friend Owl can fly to the moon.

Happy Hippo

Custom Toy Portrait — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:23:31 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic, 2009. Hippos hold a significant place in our own family lore, so I was thrilled to be asked to paint this adorable stuffed hippo just before Christmas! His name is Happy, and he’s been the favorite toy of Zoe, 4, since she was one-and-a-half. I love how simple he is — a perfectly abstracted shape, almost minimalist. I was sent some fantastic photos of Zoe together with a very thread-bare Happy and it is clear how loved and important he is! He would fit right in among my younger sister’s collection. She loved hippos as a little girl, and has long been the victim of her family falling back on this fact when buying birthday or Christmas gifts. As Happy demonstrates, sometimes less is more!

Boo Boo

Custom Toy Portrait — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:37:03 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic, 2009. This bunny belongs to Billy, and the portrait was commissioned by his father. “Boo Boo” bunny is ridiculously adorable, but I felt compelled to try to honor the masculine aspect of this father-to-son gift by painting him in a conciously non-cutesy way.

Knit Cow

Custom Toy Portrait — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 04:17:18 +0000

5″x7″ acrylic, 2009. This little painting is of one of the L’attitude Enfant series of adorable yarn animals that we got at Target. It is also another example of a toy that I think is irresistable and that Sonja really couldn’t care less about. We have a whole posse of these things and she barely acknowledges them. Hey, guess what her newest, proudest, loudest word of the week is? ELMO.

Burberry Chicken

Custom Toy Portrait — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 03:06:57 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic on canvas, 2009. This stylish chicken was given to 5-year-old Oona by awesome artist Ralph Steadman! He’s the guy who drew all those famous, wild illustrations of Hunter S. Thompson, among many other things, and he worked with Oona’s mom at a literary agency. Apparently Oona has lately been focusing her affections on a somewhat more “glamorous” toy, but her little sister Daphne, 3, has taken him under her wing.

Totoro/Hamtaro

Custom Toy Portrait — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 16:46:45 +0000

9×12″, acrylic on canvas, 2009. This dual portrait was so nice I had to make it twice! It was sold during my recent show at Uncommon Grounds, and someone who had seen it and wanted to give it to his girlfriend for her birthday was really disappointed. He called me while I was on vacation in Delaware and explained his situation, and I offered to try my best to reproduce it quickly upon my return… Further complicating the matter, he was not local to our area and the girlfriend’s birthday was only three days after I was to get home. So even before unpacking, I broke out these two stuffed animals, set up my gear, and had the painting complete and Express Mailed within 24 hours!

This picture combines two titans of Japanese pop-culture, Hamtaro the hamster and the Studio Ghibli character Totoro.

Baby Bowling/Elephant

Custom Toy Portrait — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:13:46 +0000

Baby Bowling/Elephant 10×12 acrylic on canvas 2009

My daughter Sonja was given two different sets of “baby bowling,” each of which consist of limbless stuffed animals and a soft ball. One of the sets contains farm animals, and the other, bought by my sister while in Australia, is mostly jungle animals plus some “mystery” creatures, rendered unidentifiable by their creative coloring and their…Australian-ness, I suppose. Purple wombat? Not sure. But it’s fun setting up a virtual army of crazy un-armed (ha ha) animals to be mown down by a merauding toddler. Here are a few of them, clearly coveting the four apendages of a small felt elephant.