Custom Toy Portrait » dog

Honey

Custom Toy Portrait — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:35:37 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic, 2010. This blanket and stuffed dog named “Honey” are both objects of great importance from Georgia’s 25-year-old daughter’s youth. Georgia commissioned this portrait as a gift to honor her grown daughter’s favorite childhood things in a suitably adult way!

Freckles

Custom Toy Portrait — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 02:59:09 +0000

11″x14″ acrylic, 2010. Freckles, a fine example of the genius amalgam of stuffed toy and security blanket, belongs to 2-yr-old Nadia. Her mother Jessica bought it for Nadia when she was too tiny to appreciate him, but she now turns to Freckles when sad, scared, or sleepy. Jessica says that when Nadia started daycare, Freckles made the transition easier (for both of them) with his presence as a familiar friend.

Twinkles and Dusky

Custom 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.

Homer

Custom Toy Portrait — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:03:59 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic on canvas, 2009. You and I should be so lucky to be the object of such devotion as this cute stuffed dog! When ten year old Christopher was four, he had a hysterical crying jag. When it subsided, he told his mom Pamela that he had been thinking about what would happen if Homer were lost in a house fire and he would never see him again. Although Christopher can certainly sleep without him these days, he still prefers to have Homer’s company when traveling. And maybe at home too.

Little Bubba

Custom Toy Portrait — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:19:46 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic, 2009. This beautiful stuffed dog, Little Bubba, belongs to Libby, who is Avery’s sister. Bubba presented a challenge to me that I had not previously encountered: He’s pretty realistic. Consequently, it was difficult to make a painting that is clearly a portrait of a toy and not of an actual dog. I suppose what matters is that Libby sees her beloved toy pup when she looks at this picture!

Thomas’ Dog

Custom Toy Portrait — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 22:29:55 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic, 2009. I might even consider Thomas Sonja’s first love, in addition to being her playmate. Even though he is almost two and a half and Sonja is 20 months, they run toward each other as if through a sunlit field of wildflowers whenever they meet on the sidewalk. He is actually not so attached to his stuffed animals, and his grandmother suggested that it would be more appropriate for me to paint his toy golf clubs. I almost painted a couple of the clubs next to this dog, but… eh.

Baybob

Custom Toy Portrait — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 03:56:13 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic, 2009. Here is Baybob, a floppy grey dog belonging to eight-year-old Audrey. He was apparently made without a specific mouth, but has developed what Audrey calls his “smile” over the years — a line beneath his nose that was worn into his fur by love, no doubt. I think a nice metaphor is in there somewhere…

Dog and Duck Blankies

Custom Toy Portrait — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:23:55 +0000

8″x10″ acrylic on canvas, 2009. Lily’s very clever mom had back-ups of these two, so she was able to send me the actual stuffed animals to paint from! It was a challenging project for a couple of reasons. First, these are tiny stuffed heads attached to what are essentially fileted flying squirrel. Each one consists of a square of fabric with a tiny foot at each of three corners and the head at the fourth. My sister insisted that I should depict them fully spread out and flying against a blue sky, which would have been awesome, but just not my style. Second, they are very, very soft and have lovely placid expressions… I could barely stay awake in their presence!