Mice picking strawberries. Frogs wielding umbrellas. Ocean waves. A Japanese artist cuts delicate designs not into paper. His medium of choice grows on trees. What artistry! He makes fallen leaves feel lively again. Who is the artist? He goes by Lito. He began creating leaf art in 2020. 

Has a teacher ever told you to “show your work”? Mr. Lito does that well. He posts images of his latest handiwork online almost every day. Now he has fans all over the world.  

Mr. Lito often works on his intricate leaf-cuttings at night. First he treats the leaves with a smoothing chemical. Then he places one on a board. With his right hand, he pens a design onto the leaf. With his left hand, he carefully slices. Slowly, an image appears. Many of his pieces feature animals acting like humans. Maybe it’s a mouse, bunny, and a frog on a swing set. Maybe it’s a rabbit family placing a pie in an oven. Maybe it’s a butterfly hovering over a field of flowers. 

Sometimes Mr. Lito’s cuttings celebrate a holiday, a favorite movie, or a book character. Mostly, he brings ordinary memories and events to life. His leaf-cuttings get titles such as “Scrolls of Frolicking Animals,” “Leaf Aquarium,” and “If You Give Me One More Pocky, I’ll Be Your Friend Again.” (Have you ever tried Pocky? You can likely find these delicious Japanese stick-shaped cookies in your grocery store.) 

Mr. Lito often includes the God-designed parts of leaves in his finished pieces. A stem becomes a bench for a trio of knitting animals. Or maybe it becomes a whale’s gushing spout.  

Why? Lito’s leaf-cutting creates art upon art. God’s amazing design is already present in the structure of every leaf on the planet.