Try a Little Tenderness

 I have recently fallen in love with Kyoko Okubo's small sculptures, 

delicately handcrafted from traditional japanese washi paper.

Okubo is a self taught artist who began playing with washi as a child, 

and in her mid-30s began making dolls for herself. After sharing 

her works with family and friends, she first exhibited them on a 

sidewalk Tokyo’s Harajuku district. Since these humble beginnings, 

she has gone on to show internationally and is currently represented 

by Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge Massachusets.

Okubo's miniature scenes realistically portray intimate moments from her poetic 

dream world, a soft universe inhabited by gentle and enigmatic wild animals

mysteriously bonding and interacting with lovely girls and young children. 

"Washi, meaning “Japanese paper”, is a crisp, sturdy material created from fibers 

from the bark of the gampi tree, the mitsumata shrub or the paper mulberry. 

While today the material is often mass-produced, it is still handmade 

in rural communities throughout the country."

From an article about Okubo at American Craft Magazine.

You can also read a nice post on her work at Art Found Out.

Stay tuned for more January in Japan findings!

Sunday Safari – Nurtured by the forest

For the past week, leaves have been falling all around us. 

Under the trees, the ground has turned into a crunchy luscious multicolored carpet. 

 Today we made a big fire of yellow, orange and rust colored leaves.

Bird and Fish by Yalos Alanya, thanks to Hautenature

Sea fishes are nurtured by the forest and Be a Happy Camper, ads by Norito Shinmura

illustrations for La Casa Roja by Violeta Lópiz

illustration made of blossoms, leaves, roots and twigs by Herr Mueller

cover for the Italian edition of Bestioles by Jephan de Villiers

The Swell Season poster by Doublenaut, thanks once again to Grain Edit

Bird Roots by Claire Scully at the quiet revolution

Hójaros by Javier Jaén

Regal Buck and Snake in the Grass by Hanna Stouffer