Looking at Light with a Playful Spirit and a Spanish Accent

Both of these sets of photo's were taken at the Columbia Restaurant on the same afternoon.  It is the oldest Spanish restaurant in the United States and the Largest.  The Columbia seats over 1,700 people with many different dinning rooms.  Much of the decor was shipped to Ybor City in Tampa in 1905 when the Columbia was built.  I have been going there since I was 7 years old.  It is one of my favorite places in the world with many birthdays, graduations and life events in my life that took place there.  This wonderful place has always been like walking into another country, it transported me like a time machine into another era and culture.  It seeded a love of travel and the love of other cultures in me that would last a lifetime.  When I am away from home I do not miss hamburgers or pizza, no I miss cafe con leche, flan, Spanish bean soup(click for recipe), cuban bread, and caldo gallego. When I walk through the doors of the Columbia now, I am home...I breathe deeply and relax, I listen to the staccato of Spanish swirling about the room, sip my cafe con leche, butter a hot piece of cuban bread and melt as surely as the butter does on the warm fresh baked bread!

I thought you would enjoy seeing my experimenting with my camera and light.  I am not a photographer, I am an artist who uses a camera for a journal, for studies, for future art, for play.  The front hallway natural light appeals to me most...it is richer, a bit ghostly speaking of times gone by.  You might prefer the flash.  The bottom two photo's are in the day room.  That is where my Mother took my brother and me to eat Cuban Sandwiches and Spanish bean soup when she was material shopping for Spanish cloth.  I am not completely happy with either photo, though neither is bad.  I think I would like a little more contrast of dark and light.  What do you think, what would you choose. Take out your camera and whether it is a point and shoot or a fancy camera try to approach it with a new view...to play, just to see what you can get...what effects you might see.  Don't think serious photographer and be intimidated just play have a good time and see what happens.  Enjoy!

 Flash                                                                                              Natural light

Flash

Natural Light

BE AN ARTIST TODAY!

TODAY IS A DAY TO DO ART, TO BE AN ARTIST, TO THINK LIKE AN ARTIST, TO GO TO A MUSEUM, TO VISIT A GALLERY, TO GO TO YOUR STUDIO, TO GO ON AN ARTISTS' DATE, TO WALK IN NATURE AND OBSERVE, TO LOOK AT THE WORLD IN A DIFFERENT WAY!  

17 WITH FLAT GREEN AND RUST

RIVETS 

FALL LANDSCAPE

ART HISTORIAN AT GEORGE OHR MUSUEM 

GEORGE OHR MUSEUM

ANHINGA 

OXFORD EXCHANGE TAMPA

RESTORATION, LOOKING CLOSELY

SKIMMERS  WITH SAND AND SHADOW

MANGROVE BAY

CREATE  ASHEVILLE SIGNAGE

JACOB LAWRENCE 

WASHINGTON D.C. WINTER SEPIA

TODAY YOU CAN BE AN ARTIST, TODAY YOU CAN CREATE, TODAY YOU CAN APPRECIATE BEAUTY, TODAY YOU CAN LOOK CLOSELY AND SEE IN A WAY YOU NEVER HAVE!

WASHINGTON D.C. PUBLIC SULPTURE

FIRE FOR RAKU FIRING

RAKU 

SEAN STARWARS 

SEAN STARWARS

BUBBLE DOG NEW ORLEANS

OGDEN MUSEUM

HIBISCUS AND STAMEN IN PINK

SUNSET OVER THE BLUE RIDGE MOUNTAINS

FALL LEAVE IN REPOSE

LOOK  SEE EXPERIENCE FEEL OBSERVE

THE OUTDOOR ART SHOW, AN ADVENTURE

Gasparilla        Art            Festival(click)

Largest Outdoor Art Festival

Photography booth

I admire anyone who does outdoor festivals.  I did shows for many years. I did them for  years on top of a full teaching career.  I remember it very well.  On Wednesday nights after working all day at school I would come home and start the loading of my fan.  The process took two evenings, then I would be ready to head out on Saturday morning to where ever the show was to set up early before the judges came around.  Usually I arrived at 7am because the booth set up took two hours.  Then you wait for the judges to come around and view your work.  You are already tired before the show starts.  Once the booth is set up and the public comes, you are on stage talking about your work, answering questions of all kinds, and pretending not to listen to criticism or remarks that could have been made out of your presence.  Next your job is to sit with your work all day and be a meeter greeter and translator of your work.  It is not for the thin skinned, people will say anything and oddly enough that is a good thing.  Once you learn to know the remarks people make come from their level of understanding of art, and that not everyone is going to like everything then you learn not to take the criticism personally.  It builds a strength and self confidence in you as an artist that is hard to get anywhere else. 

I think the  statue is  Balancing, but I just love the whole photo,
like she is on a runway taking off and the man to left is so unaware.

Showing your work whether at outdoor shows, galleries, or other venues is an important step in being an artist.  You can paint or sculpt your heart out, but only when you take the risk to show to others that you truly gain self confidence in your self and your work.   for several years on top of a full teaching career.

  I remember the process very well.  On Wednesday nights after working all day at school, I would come home and start the loading of my fan.  The process took two to three evenings, then I would be ready to head out on Saturday morning to what ever town the show was in to set up early before the judges came around.  Usually I arrived at 7am because the booth set up took two hours and judges walked around before 9am.

  Then you wait for the judges to come around and view your work.  You are already tired before the show starts.  Once the booth is set up and the public comes, you are on stage talking about your work, answering questions of all kinds, and pretending not to listen to criticism or remarks that could have been made out of your presence.  Next your job is to sit with your work all day and be a meeter greeter and translator of your work.  It is not for the thin skinned, people will say anything and oddly enough that is a good thing. 

 Once you learn to know the remarks people make come from their level of understanding of art, and that not everyone is going to like everything then you learn not to take the criticism personally.  It builds a strength and self confidence in you as an artist that is hard to get anywhere else. Showing your work whether at outdoor shows, galleries, or other venues is an important step in being an artist.  You can paint or sculpt your heart out, but only when you take the risk to show to others that you truly gain self confidence in your self and your work.  

Another element in showing outdoors is the elements, the weather.  It can be cold and windy, hot and still, it can be raining and wind gusts that blow your work and tent down.  The sun can beat down and humidity can make a small atrium out of your glass framed work.  

Lover looking the minarets of Tampa University the art show is packed.

So, when I did outdoor shows, after the set up, I sat with my work until closing on Saturday, then came the securing of the tent before you could leave and go stay in your hotel.  On Sunday up again, off to the show to sit to closing.  I would then take it down, pack it in the van, drive home and unload.  About 9pm I was finished and ready for bed, and up at 5:45am the next day for school.  It was quite a routine, so I lasted about 3 years and then decided it was indoor shows from then on for me.  

I enjoyed meeting other artists and sharing.  I enjoyed meeting people who truly loved art and talking with interest and curiosity about my work. I also knew I was growing as an artist to show and take criticism in stride.

But it was not easy, so I truly admire people who do this for a living.



Mary Proctor (click for more information) is what we call an Outsider Artist.  She is self taught and her works her truly her own unique vision and expression of her creativity.  She is in several books on folk artist in America.  She is a charming, bubbly, smiling person who works hard to show her work, no matter great personal challenges in her life.  I love her work and you will too.  She lives in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, so close to Alabama it is oft called lower Alabama. 

Mary Proctor is an Outsider artist of some renown.

Lyn Whipple(click) is a delightful person who is very engaging and a very creative artist.  Her husband John Whipple is a wonderful painter!  John's Mother is a jeweler and artist.  It is all in the family!

Lyn Whipple tries out a banjo while I buy a piece of her work

A cool windy day, storm clouds gathering, but the show is still packed with people.  The arts win today!

Large hand thrown and hand built piece.df    

Gasparilla Art Show is one of the South Largest Outdoor
Art Shows, packed even on stormy days.

Even Dogs become works of art.

I hope when you go to outdoor shows this has given you an appreciation of the hard work the artists go through to be able to share their work with you.  And if you wonder why art cost as much as it does then it helps to know fees for booths and judging are high, that hotels and gas are part of the artist cost, as well as materials, time in the studio, advertising of work, and many other hidden fees.  And if you still think it is too much, look in where the artist park their cars and see what they are driving.  There are no Mercedes or Jaguars there, usually old vans that bump along and carry lots of art!

On the Road Again!

Here we go Rabbit's Moon Studio Fans, time for a virtual trip for you and a real one for me.  Here is our itinerary.  Where ever you are in the world you will get to travel with us and see the sites of art, culture and events along the way. So pack you bags and get ready to go...bookmark Rabbit's Moon Studio and travel with us daily.  In two years we have not missed one day of posting, so you will not be disappointed!  We are a committed blog, and we are committed to the arts how ever it presents itself in this lovely world of ours!

                                                                                                                                             from google image

 Charleston, South Carolina        Coast

                                      Asheville, North Carolina          

Mountains

 Washington D.C.                        Capital

                    Raleigh, North Carolina             Collage 

                    Charleston, South Carolina        Coast

                    Tampa, Florida                           Best City, Ola!

Lazy Day Warming in the Sun

Nature is ever restoring for me and the artist within!

elizabeth gordon

Turtle at Lettuce Lake, Tampa, Florida

Little Vignettes of Memory

The Fountain room decked out for Christmas at the Columbia Restaurant

I have grown up in the tropical city of Tampa. It is a city rich with history, but has now forgotten much of what made it so special. Tampa needs to embrace its past and revitalize an incredible energy that beat with Latin music and culture.  It is a port city that brings many cultures to its doors.  Long before Florida had roads built through the marshes and swamps coastal ports and rivers were the lifeline of travel and goods. 

photo by Elizabeth Gordon

Tile detail exterior of Columbia Restaurant

 When I was a child bananas came straight off the boat from Cuba. My Aunt Josephine bought them by the stalk and we carefully checked them for tarantulas!  Ybor city was still Cuban, filled with wonderful restaurants and fabric stores that carried cloth straight from Spain that my Mother cherished. The cigar factories that brought the Cuban and Italian workers to our city were still busy making the worlds cigars. We spent days walking the streets, hearing the vendors call out Deviled Crabs, Deviled Crabs here.  Wrapped in a thin crisp paper and served with tabasco sauce they were a true specialty. 

Tile Details on the outside of the Columbia Restaurant 

But our true delight was to go to the Columbia Restaurant and have a Cuban sandwich and spanish bean soup.  And even as a child I was allowed sips of Cafe Con Leche.  The restaurant takes up an entire city block and much of the exterior and interior is imported from Spain.  It was like Disney world for me when I walked through those doors.  The delight of foreign smells, the Cuban waiters with their starched red cumber buns singing as only the Spanish men can, the snap of the castinets as the flamenco was gracefully performed-I felt as if I had entered another world. 

Today I sat in the room I went with my Mother and my brother as a child and soaked in the pleasant memories.  A glance here and there, the details so etched in my memory, I felt as thought I was time traveling backwards in time.  Today I sat and sipped a cafe con leche slowly with delightful pleasure and smiled peacefully satisfaction-I am home!

This room was the cafe at the Columbia when I was a child, the cheaper room for sandwiches and soup

As an artist what I would like you to focus on is taking an odd angle or just what the glance out of the corner of your eye might be.  Our eyes see so much, but we forget to really look.

Detail of the Columbia Restaurant    photo by Elizabeth Gordon

TAMPA               YBOR CITY

Sangria pitchers drying at the bar of the Columbia Restaurant      photo by Elizabeth Gordon

CUBA                              ITALY

When A Community Does a Good Thing!

Tampa Recreation Department is doing a Unique and Good thing: A Studio Arts Program!

This program gets a 5 Rabbit's Moon Award of community outreach in the arts from Rabbit's Moon Studio!

Art is a democratic process it should not be for the elite only, it should be for all!

In Tampa, Florida the city recreation department that deserves some recognition for an idea that is a good thing.   It has started a little diamond in the rough that the city needs to recognize and mine.  The funny thing is they don't know how unique a program they have.  They are sitting on a diamond mine they created and that needs polishing and upgraded to be its full potential. It could be throughout the city in a flash, and if well funded all the arts would blossom into a full fledge city outreach program. My vision includes a printmaking studio, photography, drawing classes, painting, sculpture, computer arts, digital photography and more! With a little fanning of the flames, with more funding and a heightened vision this program could be a model for other cities! 

I have been traveling a good bit lately and I have noticed many cities I thought would have this type of program, don't!  Asheville, North Carolina, the city of fine crafts, doesn't.  Charleston, South Carolina, city of history and culture, doesn't! New Orleans, a large wonderful city of music, food and art, doesn't!  Now I am on a quest to find out what cities do not have a program like ours.  The studio program is wonderful.  Several recreation buildings through out the county are art studios. Of course many cities have private companies that offer art programs, clay classes, jewelry making, photography...but all at a cost that is too high for the average person and most are private and not through an affordable city program.  The studio's offering art classes with experienced teachers for a very reasonable $10 a class.  This program makes art available to all citizens of Tampa-that is its strength.  It offers every community, rich or poor the opportunity for children and adults alike to be involved in something that is good for the soul, that offers a haven from tv land, and video games...it offers community bonding and a way out for youth who have no other alternatives:bound by poverty or neglect. 

Our new slab roller

Betsy is a retired English and Esol teacher who enjoys  being creative

Monica has blossomed into an excellent potter under this program

 WHAT TAMPA IS DOING FOR ITS CITIZENS THROUGH THIS PROGRAM:

*ART BUILDS SELF-ESTEEM

* ART BUILDS COMMUNITY

* ART BONDS PEOPLE

* ART OFFERS A POSITIVE OUTLET FOR THOSE WHO NEED AN ALTERNATIVE TO TV, VIDEO GAMES, CRIME RIDDEN NEIGHBORHOODS, POSITIVE SELF-EXPRESSION

*ART HEALS

Monica's Octopus Garden Series

Monica throws a wonderful pot and does unique slip trailing designs

Betsy W. models the importance of comfortable shoes when doing clay
She is so fashion forward!  Actually she is the reason I found out about
this wonderful program!

Glaze stored under tables on rolling carts

Our teacher Kathy and a class of wonderful people who are love being creative and are also supportive friends

Carol finds time to be creative even with a high busy administrative job at the local university