the misanthropic fox

As soon as the Etegami workshop was over for the day, and I was the only one left in the house, a fox strolled along the top of the fence just outside my studio window. #Atsuta series. 

happy collaboration

Fumiko Koga is a dear friend I know through etegami exchange, but whose talents and curiosity are most brilliantly expressed in cut-paper art cards and paper crafts. (Do a search for Fumiko on my mailart gallery blog to see many, many samples of her work.)

A couple days ago, she sent me four pieces of origami paper folded into narrow triangles, along with a diagram showing how to insert the points of those triangles into one another to form a picture frame. I followed her directions, which resulted in the square frame shown above, with a tilted empty space in the middle. I filled the empty space with some origami paper of my own and decorated it with snowflakes and an etegami fox in his snowy den. Then I glued the whole thing onto a stiff board so I could hang it more easily.

I forgot to take a photo of the materials before I put the frame together, so I've attached one taken by Linda Austin, also from our etegami group, who received similar parts from Fumiko to make her own frame. Such a fun collaboration!

the harvest moon

Fox and the Harvest Moon. Hand-painted Etegami fox glued to a card cut from the cover of a gift box of Japanese sweets.

fox nap

The ICCPS (International Chinese Calligraphic & Brush Painters Society), which has scheduled an exhibit to take place in Australia later this summer, has decided to invite works from etegami artists for the purpose of showcasing this less-known art expression that shares many of the methods and materials of the calligraphers and sumi-e artists that make up the society, and to encourage connections between them.

So I painted a simple fox using the most basic and traditional of etegami materials (washi paper, gansai pigments, sumi ink, and ink brushes), because we have these in common with calligraphers and sumi-e artists. Once the etegami was finished, however, the image begged to be made into a throw pillow.  I sent the original etegami to the  ICCPS exhibit, and the pillow is available from my RedBubble gallery.

the ainu and the fox

Another etegami from my fox series, this time with a quote from The Ainu And The Fox, an Ainu folk tale rewritten for children by Kayano Shigeru and translated into English by me. To learn more about this book, read this post on my Project Uepeker blog.

a week of foxes

Inspired by The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery

origin of quote unclear

Inspired by the Japanese children's song "Ko-Gitsune" (Little Fox)

Inspired by the Japanese children's song "Kita-Kitsune" (Northern fox)

Inspired by "Friends, Lovers, Chocolate" by Alexander McCall Smith

Inspired by the folksong "The Fox" which my mother sang to me when I was little.

A spring festival fox mask with a Kobayashi Issa haiku