Here’s a little roundup of some vintage treasures from the past few fledgling months of my business. Keep the oldies-but-goodies coming! I’m putting the portraits under the pics their owners sent, so you can see how the photo is transformed into a hand-painted portrait. The oldies often have fur missing, discoloration, or other signs of age, so I work closely with my customers to help them decide whether they want the toy restored back to its original new state, or kept looking old (or “well-loved”) in the painting.

Feelicia and Erika – Erika writes the totally fantastic blog IndieSpotting, and she featured my toy portraits on her Indie Tot section a couple months ago. Erika’s mom read Erika’s writeup about First Friends, and thought it would be sweet to surprise Erika for her birthday with a portrait of her favorite toy from childhood, Feelicia. Feelicia is a “Feel Good” bear from Filene’s department store, and was a Christmas gift for Erika in 1988. Erika’s husband is a professional photographer, so he sent me a fantastic photo of Feelicia to use as a model for the painting. Feelicia is definitely still feeling good after all these years!

Bear and Robyn, Woofy and Jessie – Jessie and Robyn are both grown-ups now, but their sister Kiley remembers how attached they were to their favorite toys, Bear and Woofy (although apparently Robyn still sleeps with Bear every night, so the attachment has yet to end – Robyn, you are totally rocking my nostalgic world). Woofy lives in the closet now, but Kiley says he will always have a special place in Jessie’s heart. Kiley managed to get her sisters to send her photos of their special toys by pretending that she was going to write a blog post about their childhood friends (btw, Kiley is an extremely talented photographer – you can visit her site here.)  Here’s the photos from Kiley’s sisters and the finished portraits.

Jenny and Snuggles, Gabe and Tina: Jenny thought it would be a sweet idea to have a portrait painted of her and her brother’s favorite childhood toys, and frame them together as a gift for her mom for her birthday, to remind her mother of the happy times they spent together as kids. Snuggles and Tina were a bit of a challenge – they each had issues related to their age that Jenny wanted corrected a bit to bring them back a bit to their younger looks. Snuggles had been to the toy hospital (yes, there is such a thing!) to have his stuffing replaced, but they majorly overstuffed him at the hospital, so Jenny asked if I could relax Snuggle’s posture in the painting to bring him back to his old floppy self. The t-shirt Snuggles is wearing was Jenny’s shirt from elementary school gym class!

Tina the turtle was a greater challenge – she has really been through a lot over her life. She has significant water damage, she was burned in a fire, and although the doctors at the toy hospital did their best to repair her, she is still lopsided, discolored, missing fur, and her little music box is broken. In the photos her head looks white and patchy, but Jenny told me that her head was originally the same color as the rest of her body. Jenny also wanted me to find a way to incorporate Tina’s sweet face from the headshot with a full-on body portrait like the other photo.  I painted three versions of little Tina before Jenny and I finally agreed she was right!

Solomon and Leo: Solomon now belongs to 7-year-old Leo, but once upon a time Solomon belonged to Leo’s mom at the same age. I love toy stories that go on past one generation – it must give the child a special comforting feeling to know that their parent hugged and loved the same toy as a child. Luckily, Solomon survived the years intact and still looks practically brand new – perhaps he’ll stick around long enough for one of Leo’s children to love him one day, too.

Nicole and Annabelle – Erin wanted to commission a portrait of her sister Nicole’s long-time favorite doll, Annabelle. Nicole has loved Annabelle for 30 years, so as you can imagine Annabelle is quite faded and worn. The only picture Erin could find was grainy, small and difficult to see clearly.

I told Erin I’d try to do some sleuthing around online to see if I could find a better picture of Annabelle. Luckily, Nicole kept the name the doll came with, so I googled Annabelle doll 1970s, and voila! Annabelle! Pure 70′s loveliness.

Erin confirmed that is the same doll, and said Nicole’s Annabelle is so faded she had totally forgotten she was checkered. I faded the doll just a bit in the portrait, to give the illusion of age.

Kevin and Jimmy and Jenny – Jimmy and Jenny were commissioned by Kevin’s wife, Jane. Jane sent the actual toys to me, instead of a photo, so I could paint them from life! They live in boxes in storage now, but once upon a time they were treasured childhood companions for Kevin. Kevin’s parents brought them back from a trip to South America in 1982. Kevin claims they are kangaroos, but I’m not convinced (kangaroos in South America?) Either way, they were a colorful joy to paint.

Kate and Meow – And finally, I wrote about little Meow in a post here and again here, but she’s such a fantastic oldie, she deserves mention here too. She was a commission from a mother to her grown-up daughter. Tears were apparently shed when Kate first saw her portrait of little Meow. Here’s Meow’s photo and finished portrait:

And now, if you will excuse me, I am feeling an urgent need to paint my Holly Hobbie doll.

To purchase your own custom toy portrait or view more paintings in my gallery, please visit my online store at www.firstfriendsportraits.com!

**Please note that all toy photos are the property of the toy owners, who graciously allowed me to use them for this post.**

The pics are of 11-month-old Grant and his favorite lovey, Nap Monkey. Grant’s mommy, Haley, had some sweet words to say about Grant and Nap Monkey:

“At about four months old, Grant would NOT go to sleep without nap monkey in his crib (naps have always been a battle for us)…so that is how he got the name “nap monkey.”  As you can probably tell from the picture, nap monkey has been through the laundry one too many times:)  He is constantly being chewed on and drug around the house, and by his neck most of the time…poor guy. He has been through spit up incidents and poop explosions in the crib.  He has definitely been well loved!  It is really sweet to watch your baby show affection and love on a stuffed animal.  I never get tired of watching how excited he gets when he sees him!”

Haley was the lucky winner of the First Friends Toy Portraits giveaway on Babble.com a couple months ago. (Thanks for the love, Babble!)  Here’s the finished portrait of Nap Monkey – hopefully Grant will look at this portrait years from now, after his naps with Nap Monkey are a thing of the past, and maybe, just maybe, he’ll sometimes be inspired to say “awwww”.

To purchase your own custom toy portrait or view more paintings in my gallery, please visit my online store at www.firstfriendsportraits.com!

To purchase your own custom toy portrait or view more paintings in my gallery, please visit my online store at www.firstfriendsportraits.com!

So I did this painting a few weeks ago, and have been meaning to write about it ever since. I received an order last month from a woman for her nephew, Alexander, to paint his favorite Blabla doll, which he named “Sock Panda”. Here’s the photo I received:

Alexander’s dad is an art director, and he had a pretty clear idea about how he wanted Sock Panda painted — arms akimbo, “a little more dynamism.”  As in, a little more personality? No problem!

Introducing Sock Panda, with an attitude:

Alexander and his family loved the portrait (yay!), and shared this pic of Alexander with Sock Panda and the finished portrait hanging in his room.

So cute, right? Now here’s where the story gets awesome (for me, anyways). The sweet aunt who bought Alexander the portrait is actually the fabulous Kelsey Kleiman of the equally fabulous Stomping Ground Photo. Stomping Ground has totally revolutionized the concept of school photos, bringing creativity and life to what is normally a stuffy, stodgy business.  They also do incredible private portrait sessions. They are based in Brooklyn, but have outposts all over the US.  Seriously, contact your kids’ school about using Stomping Ground for school photos – your memories will thank you for it later.

So Stomping Ground has a blog – and Kelsey blogged about me here! So sweet, right? But that’s not all Kelsey did for me – she hooked me up big time with some super sweet marketing ideas and contacts for my new little business, and for that I will be always be eternally grateful! Thank you, Kelsey!

To purchase your own custom toy portrait or view more paintings in my gallery, please visit my online store at www.firstfriendsportraits.com!

Also, this portrait has produced the most amazing picture ever. EVER. Happy child, with her beloved lovey, with her lovey portrait :

That picture makes me SO HAPPY. Enough said.

So, I’m currently doing a giveaway of a free 6×9 framed custom toy portrait through Prudent Baby, and there’s only a couple days left to enter! Visit Prudent Baby HERE and leave a comment by midnight on Wednesday, March 30th to be entered to win!!

Please also visit my website to see a gallery of more toy portraits or to purchase a custom toy portrait for your loved one!

http://firstfriendsportraits.com

With all these nostalgic thoughts percolating through my head, it seems fitting that my latest portrait commission should come from a mother who wishes to celebrate the birthday of her grown-up child with a special remembrance of her daughter’s childhood. Kate is about to turn 22, and her mother Donna commissioned me to paint a portrait of “Meow”, Kate’s best friend of many, many years.

Here’s a picture of Kate (known as Katie back then), Meow, and Kate’s sister Lisa from 1992:

Here’s a picture of little Meow now, after many years of being well-loved — a little less fur, a few spots of dirt, but nevertheless adorable:

And here’s Meow’s finished portrait (Kate’s favorite color has always been pink):

Kate’s mom kindly wrote Meow’s story for me:

“Katie was born in April 1989 and Meow became a part of her life shortly thereafter – don’t know what is was about this little white cat but Katie would hold her tucked under her arm and from there Meow went everywhere.

We lived in California when Katie was born and the darn cat traveled all over that state as far north as San Francisco and as far south as San Diego!  In 1992 we moved to upstate New York when Katie was three so Meow got the chance to travel by van across the whole United States tucked securely and warmly under Katie’s arm.  Eventually the family moved to Centerville, OH when Katie was five and has lived there ever since.

During this period, Meow has traveled to Disney World many times and to family in Florida and to friends back in California.    On one trip to Washington, DC somehow Meow got caught up in the sheets that the maid gathered from the room and it was through much sweat, tears and hard work that Katie’s dad went through all the dirty laundry in the basement of the Mariott hotel – along with all the hotel staff – and rescued Meow from a life of “we don’t know what” to the arms of her mom Katie!  Needless to say after that trip Meow was accounted for every minute of the day, especially when she was traveling….

Katie is now “Kate” – something about being grown up?  She is almost 22 and getting ready to graduate from college and take on the next phase of her life.  As for Meow, while she is older now and doesn’t travel around the world anymore, she does sit in Kate’s bedroom at the top of her bed and keeps an eye on everything.  In Kittie years, she is a bit older – she has lost some hair and her eyes don’t see as well but she will always be there keeping an eye on Kate!!”

Donna also included a recent photo of Kate and her sisters Lisa and Erin all grown up (Kate is in the middle):

Happy birthday, Kate! And thanks so much, Donna, for the beautiful story and for the opportunity to paint your lovely daughter’s childhood friend.

Adorable, right? Nate hasn’t had an easy time lately – he just recovered from a scary fever of 106, and has been going through an intense couple months of therapy every day (he was recently diagnosed with autism).  His amazing mom, Ann, has started a blog called “Nate is Great” that details the ups and downs of Nate’s daily therapy – you can read her blog here. Nate’s a trooper and has been doing really awesome, according to his mom, and he is nearly always accompanied in his awesomeness by his best friend, Hobbes. Here’s  Hobbes:

This is what Nate’s mom, Ann, writes about Hobbes:  “Hobbes and Nate are the best of friends.  When Nate sees Hobbes, he gets excited, grabs him, and gives him a giant hug and a really sloppy kiss.  Being nonverbal, it warms our heart to so clearly see Nate express joy and happiness when he sees his pal.  While we try to leave Hobbes in Nate’s crib for sleeping time, he somehow winds up going on adventures all over the house.  He’s got the perfect tail for chewing, rubbing, and dragging and he’s awful snuggly and sweet.  Due to multiple washings, Hobbes is also losing body mass (read: the stuffing is getting patted down) so we are very excited to have Hobbes preserved through your work!”

Emails like that REALLY make my day, and make me so happy that I can do a little something to contribute to kids’ lasting memories. I hope Nate finds as much joy in his portrait of Hobbes as I experienced painting it! Here’s the finished portrait:

BIG special thanks to Ann and Nate for sharing their story!

**I encourage all of my customers to share the story of their child’s favorite toy. If you would like to feature your own child’s toy story on this blog, please email me your child’s information after purchasing your toy portrait!**

Here’s Lisa.

And here’s Eddie.

Lisa the monkey has slept with my daughter Uma every night since she was 10  months old. Eddie the elephant has slept with my son Kaveen (and Uma’s twin brother) every night since he was 13 months old. Eddie and Lisa are my twins’ best friends – now that my kids are going on 3 years old, they talk about Eddie and Lisa as though they are real people. Eddie and Lisa have adventures and get filthy dirty with my kids, they eat all the “yummy” pretend food my kids prepare in their play kitchen, they get thrown in the air and laughed at and dressed up and hugged and kissed and cried on. They are, in short, perfectly loved toys.

So last summer, I thought my kids might like a portrait of their toys. I’d been going through a rough couple of years trying to find a way to redefine myself as an artist after giving up my fancy freelance work as a costume designer in New York, living through the craziness of life with newborn twins, moving to Miami, and becoming a stay-at-home mom. I needed a little bit of “me” back. So I set up a little table for drawing and painting, took out all my old paints and pencils from my costume design days, and painted a couple of quick toy portraits for my kids while they were napping….

and thus the idea for First Friends was born. My kids LOVED their paintings, and when I say loved, I mean they jumped up and down, screamed for joy, ran to get Eddie and Lisa and show them the portraits, and have continued to point out the portraits all year long for anybody that comes over to our house.

Here they are, with their finished portraits:

Pretty cute, right? My husband is Indian, and I’ve got a strictly Scandinavian heritage, so in case you were wondering, the kids’ golden glow is pure hybrid vigor.

Anyway, I’ve been painting toy portraits for a few months now, and have just started this blog, so I’ve got a lot of catching up to do! I hope to feature every portrait I paint with a little post in the blog about the toy, its owner, and what makes the toy so special and beloved. If you order a portrait, I would really love if you could also send along a picture of your child (or your nostalgic adult – they like toy portraits too!) and some background info about the toy for the blog.  Tell your kids they’ll be famous, then show them the post – I’m pretty sure they’ll love it. I’ll use first names only to protect your privacy, and of course it is totally up to you whether to include a photograph of your child or not.

Looking forward to the stories!
-Erin