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Fulrfun BearsLost my mojo for a long time but picked up a bear this week and finished it and....my mojo is back - so am I. Hello to old friends and new!
Past Time BearsYea - Clare's back! So glad your interest in making bears has returned . . . we've missed you. Looking forward to seeing your teddies again.
PennsylvaniaLost my mojo for a long time but picked up a bear this week and finished it and....my mojo is back - so am I. Hello to old friends and new!
Too many people fail to understand that you can't turn creativity on and off like a water faucet.
I'm a photographer and I often talk to people who think I can make a photograph any old time they want me to.
Aside from the fact that the time has to be right, with the right lighting, the right subject, the right setting and I have to have my equipment ready, I have to be in the right mood to do it.
I don't know how many time's I've walked the same stretch of beach on Sunset point without exposing a single frame of film. Then, one day, I'm standing on the shore, shooting the bull with somebody and BANG! A photo practically hits me in the face!
I had been standing there for nearly half an hour, just talking to some people about random stuff. We were all watching those kids the whole time. One guy's wife even hollered at them to be careful playing on the rocks in case they might get hurt.
We all decided to go home and, besides, I wasn't getting any good pictures. I turned around to wave goodbye and there it was! I HAD to grab it.
Many people seem to think I should get shots like that every time I pick up the camera and it's just not true.
I can only imagine what it's like to make Bears. Not only do you have to have the creativity to design and make a Bear, you need to have the concentration to do good work.
I can't tell you how many rolls of film have sat on my shelf for weeks, waiting to be developed but I just didn't have the gumption to develop them.
I don't blame you for not feeling up to the task of making Bears or even putting Bearmaking aside for a while.
How are you supposed to make the best Bears if your heart isn't in it?
Nice to see you again, Clare! 
Becky
Glad you found it again!!
Boechout, AntwerpHi Clare, it's lovely to have you back. :rose:
Sometimes we all need a break (I often wish I could take a long break from my work 
), but I am always glad to hear that artists return to bear making even after a long absence.
I am very glad you have got your mojo back and hopefully it will stay with you for a long time. 
PennsylvaniaI am the worst photographer on the world I think.
I bet you're better than you think you are! 
So many people get hung up with the equipment that they forget to concentrate on the picture.
There's the shutter and the aperture and the focus and all the other gadgets and gewgaws. By the time they get finished playing with all those buttons and knobs, they forget what they were trying to take a photo of in the first place.
I can teach you to take photos with only an empty beer can and a roll of duct tape for a camera!
The same concept goes for Bears. I bet people get hung up on the sewing and the cutting and what technique is used to make each part of the Bear that they forget what they were doing in the first place.
I bet that's why a lot of people feel burned out after a while.
While I need to concentrate less on the camera and more on making photos that tell a story, Bearmakers should concentrate on making Bears that say, "I love you," instead of all the sewing techniques.
Theoretical mumbo-jumbo aside... Glad to see you're back in the saddle!
