paintings

Dingle

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

By Truffle McFurry and Mahé The Free

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

Hallo Everybody, Truffle writing here, with great news front the front!

While I was on a painting and football trip in Portugal with my parents, our new reporter at “Go Teddy!”, Mahé The Free, from France, was herself on a mission in Ireland. In the town of Dingle she met an Irish beautiful girl bear. They spoke a lot with each other and Mahé told her about me, and showed her images of me. Dingle was so excited that she said:

“I want to go and live with Truffle on Planet Goodaboom!”

So Mahé took her back to France, and from there sent her to us. She arrived 2 days ago. We were not expecting her so soon, it was such a wonderful surprise!

As she saw me, she got so excited that she hugged me all the time, and kissed me, and did not sop saying “Oh Truffle, oh my little Truffle!”. She has got a very lovely girly voice, and a funny Irish accent. She is a bit smaller than me, and very cute, and wears a beautiful green dress and a green bow on her head. She has got such a lovely little face!

I was a bit embarrassed though, with all these cuddles and hugs and admiration, and also it was very hot! But Dingle didn’t care, she kept hugging me and cuddling me the whole day. Then Miki put us in front of the air con and everything was ok.

At some point she noticed that I was wearing a football T-Shirt and she asked me if I loved footie, and I said yes, of course, and she told me that she loves it too. And we came into a deep discussion because she even knew some of my heroes, the Rams, who play for the national team of Ireland: Jeff Hendrick,  Richard Keogh and Cyrus Christie! It was so wonderful, I had never thought that such a fine elegant girl could know so much about football!

Yesterday Mahé sent us an email to tell us about Dingle’s departure from France.

“… I had installed Dingle comfortably in a shoebox, not very wide,  with much bubble wrap and I had made loads of small holes on the top of the box so that she could breathe all along her journey! I had closed laterally and in the middle and write your address in the half lower part of the shoe box.

I arrived at the post office and gave my pretty box to the postmistress. I know her well. She looked at me and asked gently:

“What is in there?”

I said the truth:

“A little Teddy bear”.

And here she told me:
“I do not advise you to make her leave like that, in a box with all these holes! Customs will open the box and think that it is about illegal animal traffic, something like that! In any case, they will open it!”
So I got Dingle out of her beautiful travel box travel and put her it into the  thick mailing envelope. I got a real pinch in the heart, I was afraid that she chokes!
I saw the look of people who lined up… one can imagine

 

I was really looking forward to hear that she has well-arrived. She is so endearing, so fragile! Truffle’s shoulders will surely protect her.  I wish them both much  happiness! 😘😵😘
.. .and please, take car that nobody hurts her, I do not trust guys!

 

Big kisses, tell her that I love her and please give me some news from time to time..  and tell her that her friends send kisses and hugs.
Mahé”
Isn’t it a an amazing story? I love it!
See you again soon, I hope, with other exciting news from The Teddy Bear World!
Dingle And Truffle McFurry S
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Truffle McFurry Reading The Teddy Bear Hall Of Fame

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

By Truffle McFurry

(Illustration by Miki de Goodaboom)

 

Hi Everybody!

Some days ago I had a big surprise: I received a book! Yes, me, Truffle, got that book addressed to me on Planet Goodaboom. It was a gift from my Mom, she had ordered it on the Internet and it came all way from England. I was over the moon! It is my first book ever, and I know it will be my favourite book for ever.

It is an amazing book. It is called “The Teddy Bear Hall Of Fame:”, and it is written by a wonderful lady called Michele Brown. She is the wife of Gyles Brandreth,  and they have the most beautiful collection of Teddy Bears in the world. We hope we will visit it soon in England, perhaps even this summer already.

The book is full of beautiful images of their bears, and Michele tells stories about them. They are all famous bears, you know. Not like me. Really famous bears, like Paddington bear, Winnie-The-Pooh, Rupert bear, François, etc.

And then there is that amazing one, called William Shakesbeare. Michele writes:

“… this is a bear of very great brain…”

and he has written fine plays like “Macbear”, “The Merry Bears of Windsor” and “Two Gentlebears of Verona”.

I am a writer too, you know. I am writing a book right now. And if I do meet William one day, I will speak to him, from writer to writer. Perhaps he can then give me some tips how to write a bearseller!

And do you know what? Gyles did William! Gyles is my big hero now, he has even sent us an email saying that he is looking forward to meet me! You don’t believe it? Well, it is true!

The Teddy Bear Hall Of Fame S

 

Benjamin And Little Ann On Their Way To Scotland

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 1 Comment

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…

Benjamin And Little Ann On Their Way In Scotland S

My Teddy And Me 01

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 2 Comments

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

Group Portrait With Auntie Nelle Teddy Bears

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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

 

Camembear

/ Miki de Goodaboom / 3 Comments

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

Bearnadette In The Salon Rue Des Moulins

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By Miki de Goodaboom

Once Truffle McFurry, my very first Teddy Bear, had entered my life, there was no stop any more: I wanted many more bears in my life!

And as my favourite colour is pink, I got “Bearnadette”, a fluffy 30 cm Teddy bear with pink fur! First she only wore a  pink bow around her neck. But Bearnadette is very fashionable and loves to dress up, so I bought her many girl clothes.

Bearnadette loves art too. So the other day, as I came back from a painting trip in Albi, France, I showed her paintings from Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, as he was born in Albi and I had visited his museum. She loved the one with all the pretty Madames in The salon Rue des Moulins and said:

“I want to be there too, it is so beautiful!

I told her that it is a very special place… not really for Teddy Bears… but Bearnadette insisted, and this is when I got a great idea for our new project “Go Teddy!”:

I will paint Teddy bears in famous paintings, photographs or film scenes. You know, like a Teddy Bear instead of Mona Lisa, things like that. Human like to do it sometimes, then why not Teddy bears?

So I painted Bearnadette in the salon, very dressed up, with a hat almost reaching to the roof! She wanted to be painted very tall, as she felt a bit shy among the Madames! I hope you like it!

Bearnadette In The Salon In The Rue Des Moulins S