I cut out the shapes on rubber pads, stamped em on paper in black ink. Used GIMP to adjust the colours, resize, rotate, place the elements. I drew the branches into the paper with a black calligraphy pen and changed the colours.
The text was written using GIMP, I didn’t write that. The message is: 謹賀新年2026 昨年は大変お世話になりました 本年もよろしくお願いいたします which roughly translates to Happy New Year. Thanks for s great year last year, I’m looking forward to/wishing you a happy new year.
The two lion things are guardian lions statues prominent on Okinawa, where I live. The horse is there because it is the year of the horse!
Happy new year everyone!
This is delightful. The colours and characters look both modern and vintage when done in stamps, such a unique vibe.
Thanks so much! My fingers and eyes hurt from carving into a little rubber pad, but I also like the retro-modern feel in the final result.
I recognized the shiisaa immediately! Very cute, my Okinawan wife would approve. Too bad we skipped our New Years cards this year because of bad timing and illness. Still ate Okinawa soba with pork belly, though!
Awesome! I hope you got over the illness. We had Okinawa soba as well. It’s hard to ring in the new year without having a bowl.