By Miki de Goodaboom
(Illustration based on an anonymous photo)
I recently painted “My Teddy And Me 01”, featuring a baby boy and his teddy as best mates. Well, teddy bears are not only for babies, and I think there is no age to be best mates with your Teddy Bear. My own Teddy Truffle McFurry and me are the best examples!
I think I will paint a series of all kind of people in all ages with their Teddies, as it is a beautiful motif very dear to my heart.
By Ann La Mar and Miki de Goodaboom
(Illustration of Little Ann and the van based on a photo provided by Ann La Mar)
Benjamin is the oldest Teddy Bear I have ever met! And yet – this is the wonderful thing with Teddy Bears when one cares for them- he still looks so young! Ann La Mar, to whom he has belonged since she was a little girl, certainly cared – and still cares – for him with all her heart.
Ann La Mar tells the story of Benjamin :
“… Benjamin was given to me by my grandparents. The little doll was called Tammy and I don’t remember the name of the other bear but he was yellow. The camper van was racing green. Benjamin and friends -including Golliver- used to go on holidays with me. My father loves Scotland so that is where it usually was. Benjamin lived in the UK until 2009 where sadly he has lived in a box until he was recently discovered. He will return to the UK very soon. He is about 53 years old…”
I -Miki de Goodaboom- met Benjamin some weeks ago when Ann La Mar came to spend some days in Mojacar, Spain, next to the place where I live. We – Ann, Benjamin, many other bears from Ann, my own Teddy Truffle McFurry and me) met for coffee and treats by the beach and had a wonderful time. I had already seen the photo of Ann holding Benjamin and the other toys in her arms in front of her father’s van, and when I saw Benjamin, now, 53 years later, I was extremely emotional. It was such a powerful way to connect Ann’s present and past through a Teddy Bear. Somehow it was like magic, as if time did not exist. My Teddy bear Truffle McFurry and me are very proud to have met Benjamin in person, and it already feels as if he has been 53 years in our heart…
By Miki de Goodaboom
(based on a photograph by Kev le Chat)
One of my star photographers at “Go Teddy!”, Kev Le Chat, spent last week some days in Aue, Germany, and sent me a charming photograph, taken in the corridor just outside his hotel room.
The words on the blackboard, “Zum Kuscheln und Traeumen”, mean “To Cuddle And Dream”. I am wondering if the lovely plush toys are meant to be taken to their rooms by the hotel guests, if they need something like that. If so, what a wonderful idea! One might argue that Teddy Bears and other Plush animals are something very personal, and that it is perhaps not very hygienic to handle them from person to person, but well, many things in our lives are handled from hands to hands and we don’t care… money for example! 🙂
Thanks Kev le Chat, this motif is really a pearl for Go Teddy!
By Miki de Goodaboom
(Illustration based on a photo by Anonymous)
I cam across that photograph on the internet some time ago, as I was searching to buy clothes for my Teddy Bear Truffle McFurry. I think I found it in a Teddy shop, but I don’t know any more. Therefore I am very sorry not to be able to give the credit to the photographer!
Anyway, the image touched me very deeply and I had to paint it. It conveys exactly what I feel about Truffle, and more generally about all Teddy Bears: unconditional love, tenderness, intimacy, closeness, friendship, complicity, presence, faithfulness, fun and so much more.
I would adore to paint more motifs from that style, children with their Teddies, adults with their Teddies, pets with their Teddies, teddies with their Teddies… so please, if you have some nice photograph featuring such things, share them with me!
By Miki de Goodaboom
(Illustration based on photos sent by a Go Teddy’s Follower from the UK)
I recently had the immense surprise to receive 2 photos from somebody in the UK who has started following Go Teddy. Both photos were featuring “Rupert”, in very different forms.
Now, I said it before, I was introduced to Teddy Bears very late in my life, and consequently my Teddy bear culture is quite poor. But I am working at it, and I hope that Teddy Bear lovers around the world will help me knowing as much as possible about Teddy Bears. Some are already doing, and my Truffle McFurry and Me are very thankful to them…
I did not know Rupert, and I had to research him. Wikipedia told me many interesting things about him. Basically, Rupert Bear is a children’s comic strip character created by the English artist Mary Tourel and first appearing in the Daily Express newspaper on 8 November 1920. Interesting is that originally, Rupert is depicted as a brown bear, but his colour soon changed to white to save on printing costs!
Now this person from the UK sent me a photo of his Rupert Teddy Bear, a white Bear. And he sent me a photo of a very special brown Rupert, to be found in Linford Park Wood, Milton Keynes.
So I decided to paint them both together in that beautiful wood… and here they are!
By Miki de Goodaboom
The other day when I travelled back home from Benidorm on the Costa Blanca (Spain), I had to stop at a petrol station by Murcia, as a storm was suddenly going on. Giant water drops were falling from the sky and the wind was becoming a hurricane, and I thought it was safer to stop and wait.
I entered the bar from the petrol station, and there I had the surprise to attend a jam session. A dog was playing the guitar and a beautiful white Teddy bear was sitting by him, enjoying the music.
Later they told me that they were together on their way to a rock music festival in Portugal. The dog was apparently a famous musician called “Doggy Guitar”, based on the western character Johnny Guitar whom he loved. And the Bear was his Roadie. I am ashamed to say that I forgot to ask his name. I must have been under the spell of Doggy Guitar’s music, as I normally never forget to ask a Teddy Bear for his name!
Go Teddy! 