Your Toy Portrait - Custom Toy Portraits by Jennifer Maher » cat

Spike, Kitty, Blue Bunny

Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait — Mon, 14 May 2012 13:39:32 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. In this “symbolic” family portrait, the family members are represented by their favorite stuffed toys. This is one of two portraits commissioned by Paul for his wife Kathleen as gifts for Mother’s Day and her upcoming birthday, although Paul ended up growing impatient and gave her both on Mother’s Day! The droopy, laconic Spike has always been Kathleen’s favorite Peanuts character, and she’s had this stuffed toy since she was ten years old. Paul’s blue rabbit was a given to him on his first Easter. This stuffed cat only recently emerged as three-year-old Asa’s favorite, and Paul reckons that it’s because he resembles their own cat “New Kitty” (who retains his title beyond his actual newness!) I have the pleasure of knowing this family personally, and I can tell you that these toys strike me as amusingly accurate and appropriate stand-ins! Check back tomorrow for my portrait of adorable, red-headed, train-obsessed Asa.

Annabelle’s Kitty

Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 03:34:26 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic, 2012. Nothing makes a toy more irresitable than the magic a parent can work to bring it to life! Annabelle, who turns two next month, has loved this kitty ever since her father imbued it with a frisky, mischievous personality. Annabelle’s mother, Jessica, tells me that Kitty is a great comforter and travel companion — he’s been to Cozamel, Key West, Grand Cayman, and Disney World! Annabelle ends each day by snuggling Kitty to her in bed and telling him, “I love you to the moon and back, Kitty.” As I worked on this portrait, it occured to me that this is only the third commission I’ve ever gotten to paint a stuffed cat, our of nearly 300 toy portraits (excluding paintings of our family’s own toy kitties)… isn’t that odd? I have always thought that cat faces just don’t translate well into stuffed toys. There is always some curve or proportion that gets lost and leaves the toy cat looking sort of pinched and unpleasant. The minimalist perfection of Hello Kitty is an exception to this phenomenon, as is, of course, Annabelle’s Kitty.

CatDog

Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 15:19:45 +0000

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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Pet Portrait: Zoe

Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 04:17:10 +0000

5″x7″ acrylic, 2011. I’ve painted both of Colleen’s childrens’ loveys, and I’m so happy that she also asked me to paint her dear, departed pet, Zoe. It’s a wonderful change for me to get to paint actual animals from time to time! Zoe was a beloved lap-cat who would even tolerate taking walks on a leash (although it often seemed as if Zoe were walking Colleen.) It’s just how cats can get comfortable just about anywhere — I mean, she’s using the top edge of a wooden chair for a pillow!

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Grey Kitten

Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait — Mon, 23 May 2011 04:42:09 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic, 2011. I love to paint toys that resemble our family’s own favorites, and this grey kitten is so similar to Sonja’s beloved Kitty that I could practically feel her floppy, fuzzy weight in my hands as I worked. This custom portrait was won by Mandana at an auction benefiting a pre-school. She chose her niece Lola’s best-loved stuffed cat as the subject, nestled into Lola’s favorite blanket. I was invited to donate a painting to this auction by Lisa, who cleverly displayed my portrait of her own daughter’s toy at the event as incentive!

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Max and Jack

Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 03:24:11 +0000

11″x14″ acrylic, 2010. This painting of Max and his cat is not a toy portrait of course, but is a follow-up to my painting of Max’s sister Lilly and her toy frog. Max’s mother Wendy says that Max does not have a particular favorite toy, but he is very attached to Jack the cat. She says that Max slings Jack over his shoulder and carries him around that way, and Jack doesn’t seem to mind a bit!

Stuffed Bear/Real Cat Challenge

Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:53:53 +0000

9″x12″ acrylic, 2009. This was a very tough asignment! As a Christmas gift for his girlfriend, Jonathan asked that I paint a portrait of her childhood teddy bear next to her beloved, recently deceased cat. In order to keep the project secret, Jonathan was only able to provide me with blurry, tiny photos of each of them. We had a couple of discussions about relative scale, and then I just dove in and did my best. I hope that what might have gotten lost in the details comes through in spirit!

Twinkles and Dusky

Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 00:44:31 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic, 2009. This portrait of Twinkles the cat and Dusky the golden retriever were commissioned by Darby for her sister Annie. Annie was in on the project, and she shared some nice background info about these two. They have both been with her since childhood and through the lifetimes of several beloved pets, including two golden retrievers. She says that Dusky has been wonderful physical stand-in for her dogs whenever she can’t be with them (at college for example,), and is also an eternal reminder of how adorable they were as puppies. I had the pleasure of their company in my studio while I painted them (rather than photos) as Darby and Annie were kind enough to lend them to me.

Squishy, Take 2

Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 04:50:08 +0000

5″x7″ acrylic, 2009. The original version of this painting is hanging in my current exhibit at Uncommon Grounds in Saratoga Springs, but someone purchased it while I was installing the show. He was kind enough to leave it up for the duration. So when another man phoned me expressing dismay that the painting he wanted to buy was marked “sold,” I told him that I still had the Hello Kitty squeeze toy handy and would be happy to paint another from the same motif. The new painting shipped within two days of his order, and he was able to give his Sanrio-crazy daughter-in-law the perfect gift!

Don Gato

Jennifer At Your Toy Portrait — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 16:30:12 +0000

Baby Sonja has a special cat...
Don Gato 5×7″ acrylic on canvas 2009 – Target sold a series of fantastic yarn-knit stuffed animals a couple of years ago called L’atitude Enfant, and I bought the cat, mouse, and chicken “for Sonja” (for me.) When she was really tiny, I would wiggle the cat in her face and sing the following to the tune of the song “Don Gato:”

Baby Sonja has a special cat!
He is made of yarn and not so fat!
His red and orange and stripey (myow myow myow)
And he rocks a purple sweater (myow myow myow)
and in Spanish he’s “Don Gato!”

This painting arrive wired for hanging and framed simply in pine.

$70 plus $7 shipping

(category: Toy Portrait Series. tags: single portrait, cat, acrylic)