To Cuddle And Dream

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!

To Cuddle And Dream S

 

My Teddy And Me 01

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!

 

My Teddy And Me S

The Doo Doo Bears

By Miki de Goodaboom

 

Truffle Mcfurry and me  recently spent some days at my parents’ in Benidorm, on the Costa Blanca in Spain. And as we both love to see how Teddy Bears look like in the places we visit, we went on Teddy Bear photo safari. Also sometimes, we might find some who need to be rescued and adopted!

This is when I saw “The Doo Doo Bears”. To be completely honest they are called “Dou-Dou”, but I prefer the double “oo”, because it looks funnier and also to make sure that English people speak it the right way. It would be terrible if they called them Dou-Dou, like in “trout!!!

Truffle and me fell totally in love with the Doo Doo Bears, they are so immensely cute and cuddly! Truffle wanted one for himself, with his name embroidered on it. He said this would certainly help him falling asleep when he has got insomnia, and he would even share it with me when necessary. But he had been naughty with the Mime shortly before  and I did not get him one.

Well, I should have known better, I am upset now, I would love to have one in our bed!

PS: … and yes, you understood it correctly, Truffle sleeps with me…

Doo Doo Bears S

Golliver’s Travel

By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

I am just a little Teddy Bear, and I don’t do politics and I don’t know much about PC. Well, I do already know a bit about Personal Computer, but not about Politic Correctness! And from what I have heard about it recently, it seems to be weird stuff.

Well, sometimes I have my strong opinions, but normally I don’t get public with them, because I am scared. They say, everybody is spying on you on the internet nowadays.

But now I feel  I have to speak out very loudly. The other day I met my wonderful Auntie Ann from the UK. She presented me my Teddy bear cousins, and then she presented me Golliver. Well, to tell the truth, this was not his real name. She said, his real name is not allowed, because of PC. And she said, Golliver was even banned from the world.  Because he is black!!!

Now I got worried. To start with, Golliver is so beautiful, and was loved by million of children and grown-ups around the world, so why did they ban him? Just because he is black? Is that PC? Why don’t they ban white dolls as well?

But what got me really worried, is that I am black too. All my Teddy bear brothers and sisters and cousins and mates have a light fur. I am the only dark one… does that mean that they will ban me too? That I won’t be able to have my own Facebook page and my website any more? Why not? Many people love me so much! My Mom Miki loves me so much, and my Dad, and my Auntie Ann, and my Auntie Pamaretto, and my Auntie Nelle… and my brothers and sisters and cousins…

Anyway, we all love Golliver and we are immensely happy that he travelled all the way down from the UK to  Mojacar, Andalucia. We love him so much, he is so beautiful and so funny, and he will never be banned from our lovely town!

Miki would be immensely to paint your own Golli! So please, if you have one, contact us, send us a photo and tell us his personal story and we will publish it here!

Please, protect us all!

Go Golliver, Go Teddy!!!

 

Gollivers Travel S

 

 

Georgia And Pedro

By Ann La Mar, from the UK

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom, based on a photo provided by ClaireBear)

 

I was so excited to be Georgia’s god mother and that Claire thought I was up to this task! I bought Pedri for her in Spain. I told him all about Claire and what wonderful cakes she bakes. Chocolate cake, cup cakes and carrot cake really made Pedro want to go to the UK very quickly. It was the marzipan on the Battenburg cake that got him excited, he loved almonds.

So he came on the plane with me and was taken by car to Claire’s “House of Cakes” where he and Georgia have been friends ever since. Now Georgia has grown up, she helps with baking cakes so Pedro has a continuous supply of his favourite cakes… one very happy bear!

Georgia And Pedro S

Group Portrait With Auntie Nelle Teddy Bears

By Miki de Goodaboom

(Illustration based on a photo by Auntie Nelle)

As Truffle’s Auntie Nelle, from the North of France, heard about “Go Teddy”, aour project to love and protect and paint all the teddy Bears from our world and beyond, she was so kind to send us a beautiful photograph of her 3 bear children.

We were so over the moon!

Then I asked her for the name of her bears, but she said they haven’t got any names! Now she must have her reasons for that, she is a very intelligent person, so she sure knows what she does!

But I could not help calling the little one in the middle, the one wearing the white hoodie, “Capuchino”.. simply because “capuche”, in French, means “hood”!

I had much pleasure painting these new cousins of Truffle, but it was tough. They have all three a very sophisticated fur, with colours difficult to render! And also, one is not so sure where one bear ends and the other begins, but it does not matter, Teddy bears are simply a big lovely family and are all united!

Auntie Nelle Bear Family S

 

A Birthday Clown For Miki De Goodaboom

By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)
 
Today is my Mom’s birthday! She always loves a happy birthday, loaded with lovely presents and great food and kind birthday greetings, but today will be different. My Mom is so sad, it is breaking my heart…

So yesterday, all my sisters and brothers and mates, we have all broken our Piggy banks to buy a nice present for her. Even our house Minion gave an Euro to it… I do wonder though where it had the Euro from, had he perhaps stolen it and nobody noticed? Anyway, we all wanted to buy for Miki something which would made her laugh. Because as everybody else in this world, my Mom is never more beautiful than when she laughs!!!

And so we found that happy clown by the Chinese shop on the corner… You know, the Chinese are the cheapest, so luckily we could offer it. And then I put clothes on which I know Miki loves (me not that much, they are a bit too girly for a real boy like me…) and we all went to wake up her up today waving the clown at her face and singing “Happy Birthday”.

And it worked: she did laugh!

A Birthday Clown For Miki S

 

Bear With Hard Rock Cafe

By Miki de Goodaboom

For many years, Truffle’s Dad – Kev Moore, The English Rocker- and me have always visited the local Hard Rock Cafes, whenever there was one where we travelled. We enjoyed looking at all the Memorabilia exhibited in these places, enjoyed the food, and, last but not least, before leaving, the obligatory visit to the shop, in search of some nice commemorative T-Shirt for Kev who is collecting them.
 
And me, from the moment Truffle entered my life, my eyes were only attracted by the Hard Rock Cafe bears… unfortunately, at the beginning, Truffle was very jealous and scared that another Teddy could take his place in my heart, so I never dared getting one. Yes, these jealousy things are so tough to handle, and Teddy bears are no different in that matter! Instead, I tried persuading the shop attendants to sell me the hoodies or shirts they Teddies wore, but they never did: they were only available with the bears.

And now, Truffle has understood that he does not need to be jealous.. but… I doubt I will ever visit a Hard Rock Cafe again! I would love though to paint a series of these bears, so I am asking you all, who have such a Hard Rock Cafe Teddy, and would like to share him and his story with me and Truffle and the world: PLEASE contact us, or leave a photo and the connected story in the comment thread. I would love that so much!

Here is an example of A French Teddy bear from the Hard Rock Cafe in Paris, France…

 

Paris Hard Rock Cafe Bear S

 

Camembear

By Kev Le Chat

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

When I was a reasonably typical thoughtless twenty-something, I was hit with something that was hard to comprehend. My Mum was diagnosed with cancer.  Being useless at expressing my feelings properly at the best of times, I did something spontaneous….I bought her a big teddy bear. It was probably a bit mental really, but in fact, felt like the completely natural thing to do, and she kept it in her bedroom always.

When she passed away, it came to me. I don’t know if she never named him, perhaps she did. But I so know that he is a lovely reminder of my Mum, not a painful one. When we visited New Orleans many years later, Miki and I brought him some Mardis Gras beads and some New Orleans Saints sunglasses, shaled like fleur-de-lys. He’s become somehow synoymous with The Big Easy since then! …and the French connection doesn’t end there, because on Planet Goodaboom, he was given a name ( you can’t live there without one) …it is Camembear!

Bear on Bourbon S copy

A Bike For Cousin Marlon Blanco

By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

This is a special post for my lovely cousin Marlon Blanco, from the UK. But everybody else can read it, of course!

Last week his Mom, Auntie Ann, sent me a photo of poor Marlon sitting at the bottom of a beautiful crochet bike on the Tour de Yorkshire. He wanted to race the Tour on that bike, but the bike was much too big for him!

I suddenly remembered another lovely bike that I saw In France, during our last trip. A white rabbit was selling it, among other things, at the corner of a street in a village by Albi. If I had known Marlon would want a bike so much, I would have bought it for him. Mind you, everything is so expensive is France, and I have only 2 Euros in my Piggy Bank, sure it would have not been enough!

But I was thinking, if Auntie Ann cannot do a crochet bike for Marlon, and we cannot either, perhaps Marlon’s Dad could make one for him, out of wood, like the French one? And perhaps even In the bright yellow and blue colours of the Tour de Yorkshire?

Anyway, Marlon, Miki painted this bike for you. So, at least you have got one now, even if it is only on the paper! We hope you like it!

xx

Truffle

A White Rabbit On A Bike S