Monday, January 3, 2011

rabbits galore

This is one of the many etegami I painted as a New Year's card for 2011 Year of the Rabbit. The words accompanying this solemn-faced rabbit are a Hausa proverb.

Here's one for people who prefer cute bunnies.

The inspiration for these simple bunnies comes from the bunny-shaped confections that become popular in Japan during rabbit years. I'm planning to post a recipe for these usagi manju later this month on my Wagashi blog.

I also did a bunch of etegami collages. This one was inspired by the lunar eclipse. Whereas Americans refer to "the man in the moon," in Japan, we see a rabbit pounding sticky rice with a mallet. I imagined the over-worked rabbit taking the eclipse as an opportunity to take a brief break. I thought of hanging a sign on the darkened moon with the words "gone fishing," or "out to lunch," but in the end I just labeled it "lunar eclipse" to limit clutter.

Here are some of the other collages I made by gluing etegami rabbits to backgrounds of colored washi, a page from an antique book of singing poems, or pieces torn from an old Japanese-English dictionary. Due to the rabbit-in-the-moon tradition, rabbits and the moon make a natural combination in Japanese art.

8 comments:

  1. Wonderful collection of bunnies, the first is especially nice! :o)

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  2. That first guy definitely has 'attitOOd! :)

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  3. Year of the rabbit has such a nice sound to it, I was born in the year of the rat. O.o Lovely illos Deb.

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  4. Cute bunnies have arrived at my REAL wall towers! Yay! Going upo shortly. Love them love them love them!

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  5. Thanks for your comments, I love Love love your rabbits .......and yes < i do like cute ones......Great blog and art.

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  6. Félicitation pour ce travail que je découvre par hasard

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