Month: February 2017

Diabolino And His Nurse At Newby Hall

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By Miki de Goodaboom (Text and Illustration)

Spending most of these days, even weeks,  in  Gyles Brandreth’s Bear House at Newby Hall… I don’t know if I will ever come out again! At least artistically… there is nothing more soothing and rewarding than to paint all these gorgeous creatures.

At the Bear House there was a huge setting featuring a nursery, with loads of little Teddies playing and having fun together. One of them was so cute, sitting on his nurse’s leg… he looked so shy, and you did get the impression that he needed to be protected. The nurse really seemed up to that job, looking a bit tough. It always amazes me how each Teddy bear conveys a different character. Perhaps it is only me who sees too much in them, but when I look at them, I see their soul…

I called the cute little bear “Diabolino”… he looks like a cute little devil, despite the shyness… His ears do look a bit devilish… I love that little guy!

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Prince William And Kate And Kids At Newby Hall

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By Miki de Goodaboom (Text and Illustration)

My last post was about the Royal Balcony in the Bear House at Newby Hall. Noblesse oblige – I know, I know, they are all noble…  🙂 -, I had started painting Queen Elisabeth and Prince Philip.

Next to them were a young couple with two kids. I assume they were Prince William and Kate with George and Charlotte.  At least the resemblance was amazing, and it was a delight to paint them.

Little George was holding a teddy bear himself.. one could hardly see him, but what a cute detail! My Truffle McFurry, so obsessed with celebrities, saw him very well though, and asked me to have him as George’s bear on the painting… I could not refuse -can you see Truffy on the painting?-, but no way I would ever give my Truffle to anybody in the world, not even to princes, princesses, kings or queens or even gods! I could lend him to pose for a photo with them, but that’s it!

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Queen Elizabeth And Prince Philip At Newby Hall

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By Miki de Goodaboom (Text and Illustration)

One of the settings which most impressed us when we were visiting Gyles Brandreth’s Bear House at Newby Hall in the UK, was the royal balcony. Gorgeous bears meaning to represent the royal family were standing there and waving to the crowd. It was so beautiful!

For some reason, one could really recognise Queen Elizabeth in that cute teddy with the blue dress and hat.

As for Prince Philip, I am not that sure. I suppose it was him, but the teddy standing next to the Queen had so much “hair”… well, I guess it is not easy to find a half- bold Teddy! But the ears certainly do the job… 🙂

 

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GrandMa And GrandDa At Newby Hall

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By Miki de Goodaboom (Text and Illustration)

Let me introduce you to GrandMa and GrandDa, the gorgeous grand-parents from the Bear House at Newby Hall in Yorkshire, UK.

My own Teddy Truffle McFurry, who was there with me and Ann La Mar, was a bit upset that GrandMa and GrandDa had some numbers tattooed on them. I explained to him that it was like with the Paddington bears, that there are many of them, because they are so famous, and many people wants one of them.

“Does it mean that there will be many of me when I have written the best-seller and I am famous?”, he asked.

“Perhaps, Truffy. Would you like that?”

“Euh… I am not sure… I like to be unique, me…”

“Well, we will see then, Truffy. You would still be unique, you know. The other Truffles would just be copies of you. But anyway, first we have to write this best-seller, and for that you have to work now !”

“But it is Sunday… Daddy said it is Sunday and one does not work and one hangs around in pyjamas the whole day!”

My Truffy has always the last word!

“Hermann Dressed Bears: The Pauline Grattan request
The Teddy-Hermann company was founded in 1912 in Sonneberg, Germany by Bernard Hermann who had earlier worked with his father, Johann, in the family business, crafting children’s violins and wooden toys. The Hermann Dressed bears are now among the world’s most collectable bears and almost all the dressed bears here were generously bequeathed to the collection by a very special bear collector, Pauline Grattan.”

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Teddy Lynton At Downing Street 10

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By Miki de Goodaboom (Text and Illustration)

 

Before my Truffle McFurry entered my life some years ago, I had no idea about the world of teddy bears. I had never had one before. I did not know how beloved they are around the world, among children and adults as well.

I went from one surprise to the next when I read Michele Brown ‘s (Gyes Brandreth’s wife) book “The Teddy Bear Hall Of Fame ” and discovered their story. I found out that even some very important people in history have had and loved a Teddy bear, and not only as they were children. And I thought:

“As long as this is the case, the world cannot be  that bad!”

One of these men is Tony Blair. There he was, his Teddy Bear  “Lynton”, posing in front of following letter written y Tony Blair:

“Here is Lynton, my family Bear. he was sent to me just after the 1997 General Election and holds a special place in our hearts. He normally leaves at Chequers but has come for a holiday at The Teddy bear Museum. I hope you enjoy meeting him as much as he will enjoy meeting you!
4 July 1998 – Tony Blair”

We certainly were over the moon to meet Lynton. I could, of course, not resist painting him in front of Downing Street 10…

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Truffle McFurry And Bua At Newby Hall

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Text by Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

Hi everybody!

My Mom Miki de Goodaboom has started painting the great bears we met at my friend Gyles’ Bear House when we were on our Tour of Yorkshire.

On the third day, we had decided to take with us Auntie’s Ann bear Bua. We took every day with us another of her bears, and we all had a ball. It was so nice to have so many different travel mates.

Bua is a German boy, and Auntie Ann will tell his story in our book. I think he was the last one she had adopted before we arrived… we were so impatient to meet him. As soon as we saw him, we adopted him in our hearts too, he is so cute.

Before we went to the Bear House, we sat at the cafe there, it was very lovely, Bua and me we posed for Miki, very close to each other, like the best friends in the world!

I hope you like the painting… and us!

Love you all

Take care

Truffle

newby-hall-truffle-and-bua-s

Tough Ted And His Friends At Newby Hall

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By Miki de Goodaboom (Text and Illustration)

Some more wonderful bears from Gyles Brandreth Bear House at Newby Hall in the UK…

These were not celebrities bears, I think. They were not behind glass, and they were no explicate notes telling who they are. They were sitting directly under the roof, on a wooden bar from the roof structure. They were not famous, but nevertheless incredibly cute and touching.

I fell in love with this scene, with Tough Ted and his big Teddy Mate, and the bear girl with the marine dress turning her back to them! Reminded me of so many scenes between children…

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The Diana’s Bears At Newby Hall

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By Miki de Goodaboom (Text and Illustration)

With “The Three Paddington Bears”, I started yesterday publishing a series of Teddy Bears from Gyles Brandreth’s collection.  Today it will be “The Diana’s Bears”

These are the ones who probably touched me the deepest… here is their story, written next to them at Newby Hall:

“This is a small collection of the bears left by members of the public at Kensington Palace in memory of Diana, Princess Of  Wales, who died in a car accident in Paris, alongside her friend, Dodi Fayed, in August 1997. Paul Burrell, Diana’s former butler, accepted the bears on behalf of the Brandreth Bear Collection in 2000. All the other bears were collected, cleaned and distributed among the children of war-torned former Yugoslavia.”

I habe nothing to add to that really, except perhaps that when i stood in front of them, tears came to my eyes and I had the feeling of witnessing an important and best moment of humanity’s history…

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Three Paddingtons At Newby Hall

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By Miki de Goodaboom (Illustration and Text)

In September 2016 my Teddy Bear Truffle McFurry and me travelled to the UK to make a Tour of Yorkshire with “Go Teddy!”‘s reporter Ann La Mar.

One of our most expected events there was the visit of TV celebrity Gyles Brandreth ‘s Bear House at Newby Hall, exhibiting many  bears from his huge and famous collection.

Ann, Truffle and me will tell you all the details about that exciting day in our illustrated book “The Little Tour Of Yorkshire”, to be published at some point in 2018.

Before the trip, I had contacted Gyles to ask him for the permission of painting some of his bears. He had accepted, writing a charming email to Truffle and me, ending with the words

“With bear hugs and best wishes”

We loved that so much!

The first bears I painted are the first ones we saw as we entered the Bear House: the Paddington Bears. Having one Paddington at home (you can read about him in the post “Paddington Arrived To Spain”), we both were very emotional to see this famous brothers…

Once more I would like to thank Gyles to give all Teddy Bear lovers the opportunity to visit his wonderful bears!

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Truffle McFurry On His Way To Malta

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By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

 

Hi everybody, I hope you are well and still love us, Teddy Bears!

I was just in holidays with my Mom Miki, the French painter, and my Dad, the English rocker. Well, my Mom was not in holiday because it was a painting trip. She was working.

It was our first holiday together again, for a long time, and it was so nice! We were in Malta, an island far away in the middle of the big blue sea. 2 weeks!

We took the plane in a new place, it is a city in Spain, it is called Valencia. I had never been there before. As always I was quite scared to go through the security, sitting in my tray and going into the tunnel, where they check if I have a bomb inside!

Look on the painting, we are waiting to go into the plane under the sign of the police. I tried to look cool, but the police is always scary. Even when you are innocent, you always feel that you have done something wrong and you think they will arrest you!

But they did not arrest us, and we could go on the plane! It was beautiful then, and sure I will tell you about Malta soon.  We have saved some lovely Teddy Bears in Malta, and I have even found my Grand-Da again. I will ask Miki to paint them all and we will show you.

Take care!

Love you all

Truffle

 

 

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