Parents love to take cute pictures of their kids, and sleeping babies are often the cutest. But turning nap time into a full-scale creative outlet for child portraiture as a stay at home mom, is probably ‘a thing‘ done by a very small segment of amature photogs. Case in point, Mami Koide transforms her daughter Nuno’s nappy mat in to a canvas using clothes, foods and general stuff from around the house as props.

Koide, a cartoonist, lays out imaginative panoramic settings for her little one, with themes ranging from angelic wings with puffy clouds to rock stars performing on stage. After the scene is complete, she climbs onto a chair a takes a bird’s eye photo of her composition. Although the child is still a toddler, they have amassed over 200 photos that have been combined into a book. And of course, it’s become a best seller in Amazon’s Japan web store.

This mother/daughter creative collaboration has proven fruitful but the parents know the end of this artistic expression approaches. As Nuno starts getting friends, enters her teens and that inevitable social media exposure, having one’s mother do bed time blanket painting portraits would probably be considered a little creepy and awkward. Even in Japan!

NezoArt