A Few of My Favorite Things

It's time for me to write about one of my favorite things, teddy bears.   I don't know when my obsession began, but for as long as I can remember, I have always been enamored of those furry, chubby cheeked, shiny black eyed huggable creatures.  They surround me everyday, in my bedroom on a wicker trunk, in my den on an old fashioned record player and on a shelf in my kitchen. There's something very comforting about having them around.

One thing I like about as much as I like looking at my teddy bears, is painting them.  In addition to painting the bears on my Christmas ornaments, I also paint bears on children's stools.  Although I usually do a sketch before I begin painting, sometimes I just begin with a rough idea and let the muses lead me where they will. 

I recently painted stools for a set of quadruplets, 2 boys and 2 girls.  I painted a fairy bear in a garden of flowers and butterflies for Lily, a bumble bee bear in a garden of sunflowers and bees for Edda, a sailor bear with a toy boat and anchor for Timmy, and my favorite, a fisherman bear with fish and frogs for Wyatt.  The woman who commissioned me to paint these stools is a friend and former colleague of mine for whom I have painted several ornaments, stools, rocking chairs and a table for her grandchildren.  I have painted lots of different bears for her, so I wanted to do something different for these four stools.

Although I will paint a copy of one of my stools for someone if they ask, I enjoy the challenge of creating new and different themes because each bear I paint has a slightly different look, different color fur, and no two are alike.  Each has its own personality and sometimes I don't know what the bear will become until I begin to paint.  Another colleague of mine, who uses my stools as her go-to baby gift, simply tells me the child's name, lets me know what the mom or dad's hobbies or favorite sports are or where they went to school, etc., and lets me take it from there.  Sometimes people just tell me colors and the sex of the child and let me do my own thing.  Those are my favorite stools to paint.

It's a wonderfully creative process for me to go through each time I paint.  Although I've been doing this a long time, I never tire of the journey!