Panda, Lucky Cat and Harajuku Deer

From top to bottom: Aiko-A-Go-Go, Mini Maneki Neko, and Yummy Yumi deer

Here are the latest three deer:  Aiko-A-Go-Go in her go-go boots and panda costume! Mini Maneki Neko is the little lucky deer with a golden bell, inspired by lucky cat icons. I love harajuku fashion and style, and made Yummy Yumi  to celebrate fun fruits fashion.

Princess deer

Princess Shika deer 

This deer was made especially for my niece as a special request from her dad. She loves princesses and the color pink. Thanks so much, Rich for helping to support the drive!!

Baby doe-eyed Ninja deer

Ryoko Ninja baby deer 

Yay, it's a girl! Just born Ryoko is wide-eyed and ready to find her new mama this Mother's Day weekend. Can you help her? So cute in her baby pink ninja outfit.
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Center for the Arts Art Auction

"Return to Innocence" Acrylic on Wood

This piece has been donated to the Eagle Rock Center for the Arts annual Art Auction, taking place this April 17 from 2-5pm. You can also see it on their Flickr site.
This painting is a continuation of the fairytale theme that I've recently been doing for my dolls, and I'm exploring the development of my characters in painting on flat surfaces instead of dimensional dolls. This character is my Little Red Fox Riding Hood character and I had also drawn a version of her with the wolf, but here I have her more painted more realistically instead of in a stylized simplified way. I wanted to create a very magical, almost mystical and mysterious looking environment, with a huge moon looming behind her and the rather tall, elegant and stylish deer. I usually put legwarmers on my girl characters, but this time I put them on the deer instead and had her barefoot, a sign of her carefree spirit and seemingly innocent quality.

The Deer are Here! The Dear Japan Drive fundraiser

Dear Japan Deer no.001

I love Japan and everything about the culture has long inspired me and my art so much that I felt moved to do something, however small, to help the people of Japan after this recent tragic chain of disasters. My first inclination was to make dolls to send to the children affected by the disaster, but practicality issues made that a bit unrealistic, so instead my goal is to make 100 of these felt deer and put them up on sale on my Etsy site, where all the money raised from the sale of these deer could be given to the Red Cross relief effort. The above deer is Deer #1 that I've made and is now up on my Mekanikku etsy site. As soon as more deer are made, they'll be available for purchase. I'm even teaching a sewing workshop for teens in April that teaches them how to make these deer, in an effort to raise awareness in the teens and to show them how Japan has influenced many people (including me!) in art and craft-making. Want to join in on the deer-making drive? Contact me at hello@mekanikku.com if you'd like to help out!