Thursday, May 25, 2006

New Painting: "Manekineko - The Beckoning Cat"

Here is a new painting I did over the weekend. This is Manekineko, the beckoning cat that you often see in various Asian stores.


Here are a few of the Japanese symbols in the painting. Big kudos to Aya for being my art director on this. :-)
  • When the cat is holding up the left paw, it is beckoning people to come in.
  • When the cat is holding up the right paw, it is beckoning money. I've noticed that most of the cats I see are holding up their right paw. Hmm...
  • Both paws beckons both money and people. I love it when ancient symbolism works out so logically.
  • Red is a lucky color
  • Calico cats are lucky.
  • Turtles and cranes together are lucky
  • The hammer is a traditional festival hammer.
  • The cushion is a traditional square Japanese sitting cushion.
I painted this one primarily in Painter and Photoshop at 16" x 20" at 300 DPI. It should make a nice print.

take care
Danc.

9 comments:

  1. Cute. Reminds me of "Neko no ongaeshi"--The Cat Returns; very Miyazaki styled film.

    -Seji

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  2. Cute! I search for manekinekos at A9 all the time. Then I get my discount at amazon plus frustate them by constantly searching for something they don't sell.

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  3. I was trying to tell Danc about that movie (The Cat Returns) last weekend... I find it interesting that he's been to studio ghibli, but I've seen a movie he hasn't. Very cool, Danc, you did a nice job.

    I wish I could post my latest, sketch, I did a character sketch last night, one I've been working on perfecting, but don't really know where to put images, so they'll stay...

    --Ray

    Ps. My gmail account is rgbingham... in case you wanted to linkie me... :)

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  4. Here's a link to my latest sketch... did last night... ballpoint pen, of course, so it looks craptacular...

    Did it for the school's Artwalk night, in front of a hundred elementary school kids/parents as I volunteered this year to be a school Art Docent for a couple classes... :)

    --Ray

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  5. I used to collect "lucky cats," but when I moved to NYC there were far too many around, which broke me of the habit. Will the prints be available for purchase?

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  6. Actually, I just added the picture up on deviantart. You can purchase a print here:

    http://www.deviantart.com/print/326005/

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  7. I learned something new :)

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