Jean’s Painted Wooden Animals
During a trip to Myanmar (Burma) back in the 70s, Jean bought a set of artisanally crafted, wooden, hand-painted farm animals at a market in Yangon (Rangoon).
Back in Seoul, South Korea, where we lived at the time, Jean had the Burmese wooden horse, cow and dog copied by a local Korean artisan. She then painted them in her signature bright colours.
Jean also had the wood-craftsman make some tigers, which she painted in a more traditional style.
To add to the animal collection, Jean designed some wooden birds and dragons for the woodworker to create, which she also painted.
Originally, Jean had the animals made for our Nativity scene (creche). Christmas wasn't really celebrated in South Korea in the 70s, so we always did a lot of inventive repurposing and interesting decorating (we once had a rattan peacock chair as our Christmas tree!). All of Jean's colourful animals were a wonderful and unique addition.
For more about Jean's artwork visit www.jeantoriartwork.com