Monday Matticchio – Poodle on ice

Sunday Safari - To all the little red foxes

Cover illustration for 3 tours de Renard by André Paul, 1944

I consider myself lucky to live at the edge between city and country. I can take a walk to downtown, 

but when I am home I can forget about the intense pace of urban life and immerse myself in nature. 

For the past few years, a family of foxes has been living in a wooded area on the hill in front of our house. 

We usually observe them through the lenses of binoculars, but my two encounters with them at close distance 

in the afternoon field where truly special. One evening in the garden last summer I turned to see one 

walking a few meters from me. We both froze and stood looking at each other for sometime, 

then with quick and light steps she continued her way. I love to think of my little neighbours

 and sometimes worry about them. This post is my way of wishing them a safe and generous winter.

 Thanks to all the artists for expressing their foxy spirit so well!

Red by Camilla Engman

Fox fabric sculpture by Jennifer Muskopf at Clive + Sunshine

another illustration from Kto w lesie mieszka by Zdzislaw Witwicki, 1958,

again thanks to Our Patron Saint of Forgotten Beauty A Journey Round My Skull

Fox in the snow by Jon Klassen at burst of beaden

illustrations from Yaboki by L. Mileeva, thanks to the always lovely Kickcans and Conkers

Sitting fox by Nicky Clacy

Pinzorro by Javier Jaén

Winter illustration from Seasons by John Burningham, thanks to Masha

fox by Karolin Schnoor

stuffed fox by Natasha Fadeeva

illustration from Cuento populares rusos by Violeta Lópiz

fox by John Reddinger on flickr

Lubov Nalogina: from Russia with love

Animalarium is happy to feature the work of one more very lovable emerging Russian artist after Irina Troitskaya, Natasha Fadeeva and Victor Dubrovksy. Lubov Nalogina aka Takiyaje is a young illustrator who lives near Moscow. Around the web she is mostly celebrated for her delightful, slightly melancholic and very stilish handmade dolls, but quite naturally I fancy more the quirky sweetness of her animal creations. From her interview with Emerald Boy, I discovered that Luvob loves to read children's books, listens to French chansons from the 30s and 40s, Bjork and Beirut (chapeau!), collects vintage dolls and bears, and is "obsessed with deers,beetles and horses as well".

Everything about Lubov puts a smile on my face!

Lighting up the world

Japan, circa 1900

Japan, circa 1910

Jumbo size Japanese labels, circa 1920

Japan, circa 1935

China

India, circa 1930

Czechoslovakia, circa 1950

Russia, circa 1960

Russia, circa 1965

Germany

All these great match labels come from wackystuff's wonderful ephemera collection on flickr. I have always been attracted to ephemera, and when a teenager I dabbled in vintage items ranging from small razor blade boxes to foulard souvenirs and old fascist notebooks. But I never managed to become a serious collector like wackystuff, aka Jeffrey Errick, who in the eighties used to explore San Francisco thrift stores and flea markets, and is now generously sharing many of his treasured finds on the web. Jeffrey is also a mail artist, and you can go see his postcards and trading cards on his blog and tumblr.

One more tree

Discovered today: Fortune Tree by Sarah King at the Evening Tweed graphic design collective