Original sketches of themes for each month of the year

I've been busy these last few months, but I still found some time to do these sketches of different themes for each month of the year. I've been living in Japan for over 10 years now, so many of these images come from Japanese culture as much as from my Mexican-American culture. I hope you enjoy them and, if you use them, please credit me for their use.

January in Japan is a time for family and feasts. The delicately prepared dishes for お節料理 ("osechi ryouri" or special New Year's food) were a big challenge to draw. I drew the food that our family eats during that time. February is known for dispelling the demons out of the house with soy beans. March has the privledge of being the celebratory month for girls during the Doll's Festival.

April is for flower watching in Japan. May has the Children's Festival with its traditional 鯉幟 ("coy no bori" or carp fish flags). June is the rainy season.

July 7th is called 七夕 ("tanabata" or Star Festival), a festival celebrating when star-crossed lovers can meet at the Milky way and people's wishes can come true. August is for summertime fun and September is moon-watching time.

October is お祭 ("o-matsuri" or festival). November is 七五三 ("shichi-go-san"), the ceremony for girls of 3 and 5 years of age as well as boys of 5 years of age. Of course, December is Christmas!