"Himawari no uta"- The song of sunflowers

 

I drew this postcard last week on the day before I went to Madrid. On that day, I saw a cute Asian girl at the main train station in my city. She was carrying a guitar hard case on her back. The T-shirt she wore was beautiful. She might be a student of the academy of music. Germany is one of favourite choices for Asians wanting to study classical music.

"Dr.Dolittle's Practice" postcard set

As a child, I read a Russian book named "Doctor Aybolit", writen by Korney Chukovsky, told stories of a vet living in a jungle in Africa to help sick animals. Many years later, I heard of  Hugh Lofting's "The story of Doctor Dolittle" and found out, that "Doctor Aybolit" is an adaption, although its poems are original works.
Few days ago, I sent a postcard to a Taiwanese studying Phd veterinary medicine in Japan. She asked for postcards with pictures of animals of all kinds. It somehow reminded me of Dr. Dolittle and my favourite Russian children book. Although  I prefer the character Dr. Aybolit and the book's Russian cultural aspects, I named my postcard set "Dr.Dolittle's Practice" because of the popularity of British children's literature.

Bear: I tried to get honey from a beehive on a high branch of a tree.
Rabbit: I was deep in thought of my grandpa's race with a turtle and fell into a hole.
Dog: Hey, it was an accident that I trod on your tail while being chasing after a bumble-bee.
Cat: You startled me. I didn't intend to bite your neck.
Hedgehod: I'm fine. When I got up and found this apple on my back, I thought of the doctor and wanted to give it to him.

Because I really liked Rabbit's scarf, I wanted to draw it again. I thought to myself, why don't create a postcard set which shows what the animals had done, before they went to the practice.

 

"On the way to Dr.Dolittle's practice"

Rabbit loves colourful daisies. "They smell nice and taste good in salad"-he said. In a field of daisies, he has always forgotten the time. His Mum told, his Grandpa had the same preference for these flowers. Who knows, years ago he might have discovered some daisies with a rare colour in the race with the turtle and also absolutely forgotten the time, then later lost to the turtle.

"Breakfast before seeing Dr.Dolittle"

Bear loves honeys. His Mum has always told, that he should use a spoon while eating. Bear doesn't think, this way of civilisation makes fun. Eating honey from jars by hands is the best. "Don't tell Mum!"-he said and smiled.

 "Reading while waiting for Dr.Dolittle"

Hedgehog loves to read. He'll read everywhere. In this morning, he woke up and found a beautiful apple on his back. Hedgehog thought of Dr.Dolittle and how kind he was to him last week, when Hedgehog had a terrible throat sore. Therefore, he wanted to give this apple to the doctor so much. While waiting to be called, he is reading. 

As you can see, Dr.Dolittle is very busy. Of course, he must be very busy. Because... how many people in the world can understand  animals' languages?

(These stories are made up by me, Thao Mai)

Dog and his artwork

Dog doesn't understand why his mistress is more often concerned, since he tried to create some artworks with the toilet instead of drinking from it. "It's hard to satify human beings."- Dog sighed. (^^)

Paddington Boy

One of my favourite character in children's literature is Paddington Bear.
The bear is found at Paddington railway station in London, sitting on his suitcase with a note attached to his duffle coat which reads: "Please look after for this bear. Thank you."
I created this postcard in memory of my first plush Paddington Bear in Vietnam. Instead of a bear, I drew a boy wearing a hat attached two bear ears, also sitting on his suitcase. The street light decorated with flowers in the picture imitating the street lights I saw not far from the main railway station in Utrecht, the Netherlands.

From Me To You

The Earth is a fun place to live in. While I'm now in Germany looking forward to hot summer days and meadows full with red poppies, a friend of mine in New Zealand wrote to me: "It's getting colder here day by day, so send me a bit of summer sun and the sense of flowers..."

Teru Teru Bōzu

I remember first hearing of a teru-teru-bōzu from Doraemon, a famous Japanese manga series created by Fujiko F. Fujio. More than 15 years have gone by, I forgot the function of most magic tools which Doraemon can put out from his fourth-dimensional pocket. However, his teru-teru-bōzu is related to rainy weather for sure.
It's said, until now children in Japan still make these little dolls and hang them outside of their windows to wish for sunny weather.