Toy

"Ellie"
8 x 10 inches
Oils on canvas board

When I was a little girl, my favorite toy was a handmade stuffed elephant named Ellie.  Ellie went on all sorts of adventures. She attended tea parties, went on campouts and overnights, sat in tree-houses, became lost and found on several heart-wrenching occasions, and kept me company in the moving van as my family trekked hundreds of miles across the country to our new home in Colorado.  Now, nearly forty years on, she's fairly threadbare and her right eye has come loose, but she hasn't been forgotten. When I came across her while organizing the guest room the other day, I thought it might be fitting that she have her own portrait made.  She's a very good sitter -- didn't hardly move at all.