Moleskine Japanese Album- The story of Four Seasons- Autumn

Autumn is the time of the year for harvesting and spooking people in the neighborhood.
I've never had enough of tasty pumpkin cream soup and decided to dress me up in a witch costum on Halloween. "Meow!!!" Oop! My spoiled cat wants to join in this year. How about you?

The goddess of Autumn brought here rain, wind and made tree leaves change their colors.
It's now time to put on my favorite trench coat and admire charming falling leaves in the air.

What do you prefer doing: collect chestnuts or go mushrooming?
Ouch! Some nasty squirrels don't want to share mushrooms in "their" forest with me.

More of this series:

Summer- Spring- Winter

Momiji (Red leaves)

Tree leaves are now changing color. Winter is near.
A paper cut greeting card with warm colors as a welcome to the new season has just been done today.

Ajisai

Mum like charming paper cutting greeting cards from Japan. Since I myself made paper cutting, she asked, if I could make some greeting cards of this kind. 

Ajisai is the Japanese word for Hortensia- Mum's favorite flower. Do you see the small yellow snail on the leaf? It's me, Silent Snail. :)

Du bist mein, ich bin dein

 Have you ever heard of Minnesang-the tradition of lyric and love song writing in Germany in 12th-14th century?
This Minnelied (love song) of unknown authorship is found in a codex of the 12th century in Germany.
Why don't turn your favorite love poem into a paper cutting work? :)

Du bist mein, ich bin dein,/ dessen sollst du gewiss sein./ Du bist verschlossen/ in meinem Herzen,/ Verloren ist das Schlüsselein-/ du musst immer darin sein.
English translation:
You are mine, I am yours/ Of that you may be sure/ Deep within my heart/ You're safely locked away/ But I have lost the key/ And there you'll ever stay.

Sleeps with butterflies

I thought of Tori Amos' song "Sleeps with butterflies" and how much I loved it six years ago while making this paper cutting.
This is my second try at paper cutting. I chose three of my favorite butterlies: the Common Green Birdwing (Ornithoptera priamus); the Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) and the Common Yellow Swallowtail (Papilio machaon). The fourth butterfly is supposed to be a Glasswing butterfly. The magnet butterfly placed beside the paper cutting is an imitation of a Rice Paper butterfly (Idea leuconoe).
Monarch butterflies may not be the butterflies I love most. However, the story of their very long journey (about 4000 km) from the USA to Mexico every year has always bewitched me.
Have you ever heard of this annual migration ? What a fascinating picture in which there are hundred thousand Monarchs floating in the air!

à la chalkboard art

Chalkboard artworks have always cheered me up.
I created this drawing on paper in this style. The black background and white strokes gave it a gentle touch of old school days and country cuisine restaurants.
Besides, this is another drawing, related to tea as proof for my addiction to this hot beverage; and at the same time, it uncovered the truth, that I'm also a foreign languages junkie. ^^

Others posts about tea:

http://silent-snail.blogspot.com/2011/09/la-dame-de.html

http://silent-snail.blogspot.com/2011/01/tea-and-melone-pan.html

http://silent-snail.blogspot.com/2011/01/would-you-like-cup-of-tea.html

Free Bird

I purchased a book introducing the art of paper cutting designs. The pictures collected in the book look so fancy, that they made me want to create my own patterns of paper cutting. I had started to make this small design before I went to go to the concert of the French singer and harper Cécile Corbel. I learned of her name from the animated film Arrietty- a masterpiece of Studio Ghibli. The film's soundtracks were written by her. I strongly believe, that her music took part in the international success of the film.
I named my very first paper cutting work "Free Bird" by having got my inspiration from the opening theme song of the anime series called Haibane Renmei (灰羽連盟 lit. Charcoal Feather Federation).