Littlest Pet Shop of Horrors

Super Hero Cat (before)

"Oh, before I forget, could you please paint a little toy which Chloe's Grandfather and I bought for her birthday? Some fellow wanted $10,000 on ebay for his Littlest Pet Shop Superhero Cat, but forget it; this was $25, and we're hoping you can paint a little mask?

"Shure," I slurred as I slurped my Margarita, never having heard of the Littlest Pet Shop.  Out from Grandma's bag came this mini- kitty. not more than 2" tall (left).

Actual LPS Hero Cat

"What's it supposed to look like?  Never mind; I'll look online."  After all, I'm a (sic) professional artist; how hard could it be?  A black marker mask and... quite frankly I don't remember the rest of our Gal-Pal lunch.

By the time Grandma came to pick up the finished product I wanted to shove it down her throat.  Not even the eye colors were the same, and the head wobbles like those dashboard figurines.

Chloe's Super Hero Cat

"No wonder people are charging 50 bucks to hand-paint these things.  If I was going to charge it would be four times that! The damned head..."

"Comes off," she offered too late. Murder was in my heart, but I laughed and told her I did it for CHLOE, who I understand now carries it everywhere.

Assuming the toy would be handled often, I wanted to do my best to keep the paint from wearing off quickly. After cleaning the cat with a bit of denatured alcohol, I first primed the areas I would be adding paint.  (The clear primer looks hazy when dry, so I couldn't paint the entire toy. As a reminder, paint needs 'tooth' to adhere, and the toy plastic was slick.)

With tiny brushes and often stacking two pairs of eyeglasses, I kept repeating, "for Chloe, for Chloe," like a mantra, in case reincarnation is true.  I searched for photos of the back, or top, of the toy, but in the end I had to make it up. Bit of varnish for protection and Voila!

"I hope you and Grandpa aren't going to try passing this off as the Real Deal?  Shame on you!"

No, no, she laughed; Chloe would know the truth.  This has got to be one of the biggest Pain-in-the-Youknowwhat commission I've ever worked on, but in the end I thought it was cute and Chloe loves it, and that's all that really matters.