Rockin' Raccoons

Sweet Bella

Raccoons are one of the things I miss from living in the Californian Sierra foothills. 

I had never met these animals before moving to the States, and was very amused 

and fascinated by their frequent night visits to our porch to feast on the cat food.

I was especially amazed was the dexterity of their paws, which looked like tiny hands.   

Naturally, our cat was not very happy about this, and hid in the house until they left...

Aurelius Battaglia, The Fireside Book of Favorite American Songs, 1952

Feodor Rojankovsky, Frog Went A-Courtin, 1955, thanks to Animation Resources

Claude Humbert, Littlest Raccoon, 1961, thanks to Golden Gems

 Arnold Lobel, Red Fox and his Canoe, 1964, and Brian Wildsmith's Wild Animals, 1967

thanks to my vintage book collection (in blog form)

another lovely raccoon by Brian Wildsmith from What the Moon saw, 1978, 

thanks to the art of children's picture books

Charley Harper

C.S. Neal

John W. Golden

Neiko Ng

Sara Renzulli

Paul Barnes

 Akitaka Ito

Sarah Maycock

Darla Jackson

 Swig

Ladybugs

Tetsuo Ikeda

The days are getting colder and shorter... 

a final Summer post to remember the Summer past

Charley Harper

Leonard Kessler, 1957

Akitaka Ito

Nancy Fouts, thanks to Junkculture

Christopher Wormell

Rose Sanderson

Louis Müller, Die Märchen vom Marienkäferlein, 1943, thanks to micky the pixel

Amy Ruppel

Winifred and Cecil Lubell, The Tall Grass Zoo, 1960, thanks to gingerherring

Norito Shinmura for Muji

Ed Emberley, Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home,1967

Bibu

Laura Hughes

Ana Valero Rello

Light as a Whale

Sana Pearl Park, thanks to this isn't happiness

I often feel compelled to create a themed collection after seeing

similar imagery resurface in the work of many disparate artists.

This is such an example; I was a bit surprised to find out that

so many whales fly freely in our collective imagination!

 Xiao Huang, thanks to Massimo Carelli

Paolo d'Altan

Guy Billout

Roland Tamayo, Bearing, thanks to Dark Silence In Suburbia

Gabriella Barouch

Henriette Sauvant

Akitaka Ito

Hannah Haworth, thanks to the art room plant

Chris Buzelli

Chris Gall

Riccardo Guasco

Victo Ngai

Terry Fan

Julia Pott

Protected from the Cold

It's hard to find information in English on the young Japanese illustrator Akitaka Ito,

so I'll just share a selection of his animal portraits and hope that their beauty, 

tenderness and subtle humor will warm up your day!