According to Chinese fables, crickets are revered for their intelligence and good fortune. In fact, if a person were to harm a cricket, it was believed that they would have great misfortune. Even today, in parts of eastern Asian, the male crickets are caged so people can enjoy the song they make.
Chinese farmers were known to listen to the “Jing-Zhe,” meaning “waking of the insects” sounds of the crickets to determine when it was time to plough their fields.
This is gorgeous!! Great idea Roberta!!
Hey Roberting! That’s Roberta in Chinese! :o) This is one of my favorite things that you’ve ever done! Great character, expression and pose. Cool story and great oriental flair! FANTABULOUS! You ROCK!!!
Oh, this is adorable! Love the characters and background ♥
hehehe love your character, he look so zen!! hehehe and his pose is so great, the way he is holding the cage as a “precious thing”. Nice to read about the legend regarding good fortune and not killing cricket. Funny, there was one in our home today… and I wanted to push it out the door but it would not go on that direction…. finally I gave up. It’s probably still in the house… maybe we will hear it “sing” sometime soon.. but not sure I will find a cage that small. :)
That’s lovely Roberta! I saw grasshopper cages for sale in Hong Kong!
Beautiful Roberta!
Really love this chap! Love the colors, the pose, his expression and the whole post about crickets and Chinese lore. LOVE!!
absolutely gorgeous!
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Diana Delosh, Roberta Baird. Roberta Baird said: The lucky cricket! http://www.robertabaird.com/blog/index.php/2010/08/06/illustration-friday-caged/#comments [...]
very nice, I’m with Jack, this is one of my favorites
Beautiful, Roberta!!!!
BRILLIANT I tell you BRILLIANT!!!! You are so on a serious roll Miss thang!! Really you have pulled out
all the stops and you are in the mix and serving up illustrations with serious life and fun and punch!
Keep em rolling girly!!!
O is it true? Bobo love to chase after crickets!
I like the chinese man, the cricket, the small cage, even the flowering background. Beautiful illustration, Roberta!
I love this piece.
..brilliant idea..wonderful illustration!!
This is absolutely lovely!
Ah! Your cheery illustration has answered a question. I didn’t know what had been released from my minuscule IF cage, now I know, it was a cricket. I’d forgotten about orientals keeping crickets. They were the first to keep goldfish too. In pots.
Another amazing piece. Just love your work ♥
Lots of beautiful flow in this Roberta, exquisite look on that face. I just adore that hair and the pattern and the way the hand with the cricket jumps out from the border.
Great work! My mom would tell me that crickets in the house were good luck so I’ve always associated them with the positive and smile when I see them walking about :)
Love this, Roberta! Especially his braid and the teeny tiny cage! As soon as I arrived at your blog, a cricket started chirping outside my door (honest!)
oooh, one of my favorite characters of yours too!! And I’ve heard of this. Maybe when I was googling caged ideas :P
I used an old illo…life’s so busy right now!
I just joined the sketchbook project yesterday! I chose “it’s raining cats and dogs.” Should be fun!!
Whatever happened with the Kris Anna project???
Well as far as I know, it came back to the states. I did my piece and then sent it to Nan. I haven’t heard anything else about it. I’ve been wondering myself!
What a lovely illustration Roberta..