Sunday Safari - Taiga

Diana Sudyka, Taiga

Today's post was inspired by the chilly northern winds sweeping through Florence,

and by Werner Herzog's documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, about a group

 of fearless and resourceful people who really know how to survive in the cold.

Just like these wonderful animals...

Feodor Rojankovsky, Panache l'ecureil, 1939, thanks to The Visual Telling of Stories

T. Kapustin, The first sun, 1987, thanks to polny_shkaf's amazing visual library 

Nathalie Lete, Le Jaseur

Kate McLelland, thanks to Kickcan & Conkers 

Mikhail Belomlinsky, Wonders under the feet, 1967, thanks to bookvart

Ene Pikk, Kärp, 1981, thanks to vaula

V. Kanevsky, Winter Poems, 1984, via Hanna Rivka

Nikolai Tyrsa, Snezhnaya kniga, 1926

Gwen Keraval, Le fils qui sauva son père

Georgy Nikolsky, Year in the woods, 1978 and

Nikita Charushin, My first zoology book, 1984, thanks to Book Graphics

Animalsleepstories, The Old Caribou

Country Folks

Vyaceslav Legkobit

This time of year always finds me in the mood for some 

good old fashioned folk-inspired art from Russia and Eastern Europe.

I would be very happy to live in the same village as all these lively creatures!

Russian figurine, thanks to Made with Love by Hannah (check out her blog 

fully of lovely hand-crafted, folk-inspired clothing, art and tutorials)

Yuri Vasnetsov, Russian folk song, via HannaRivka

Russian Folk Tales, author unknown, thanks to normanack 

Vladimir Golozubov, Two Roosters, thanks to Kievljanka

Yevgeny Charushin

Josef Lada, thanks to 50 Watts 

Solomea Loboda, linocut from Ukrainian folk Rhymes, thanks to polny shkaf

another lovely book from HannaRivka

 L'udovita Fullu, Varila Mysicka Kasicku, 1966 ( a lucky vintage bookstore find)

Rumen Skorchev, Bulgarian Folk Tales, 1979, 

and N. Trepenok, Sharp-toothed Mouse and Rich Sparrow, 

thanks to Book Graphics

Feodor Rojankovsky, The three bears, 1967 

Sunday Safari - A Very White Christmas

As I walked out the door yesterday morning I stepped into a winter wonderland.

Quite an unusual sight in these Florentine hills...

We are basically still snowed in, but we've got food, wood and a good excuse

to hang around the house instead of going shopping!

Cover and illustration from Die Bärenhöhle (The Bear's Cave), 1988, by Sita Jucker

Illustration from Christmas Bear by Feodor Rojankovsky, 1966,

thanks to Golden Gems

Bon Iver illustration for Mojo by Lisa Evans aka Firefluff

Untitled #140 (Albino deer) photograph by Simen Johan

Forest shadows drawing by Irina Troitskaya

Fox on the ground bronze sculpture by Kiki Smith

Traveler 63 at night snowglobe by Walter Martin and Paloma Muñoz

In them trees illustration by Robert Hunter

Moominland Midwinter cover by Tove Jansson, 1958

Submission for an Anorak magazine cover contest by Lea Maria Heinrich