The World is Visiting Rabbit's Moon Studio

These are the countries that have visited Rabbit's Moon Studio Blog!  It is exciting to see the whole world showing up on our site.  Look at how many people all over the world love art! If you do not see your country then click on or join and you will see it soon.  Thank you all for making this such a successful site! Together in the Arts we are one world.

 United States (US)
 United Kingdom (GB)
 Spain (ES)
 Netherlands (NL)
 France (FR)
 Canada (CA
) India (IN)
 Italy (IT)
 Australia (AU)
 Bulgaria (BG)
 Germany (DE)
 Belgium (BE)
 South Africa (ZA)
 Turkey (TR)
 Singapore (SG)
 Czech Republic (CZ)
 Greece (GR)
 Taiwan (TW)
 Russian Federation (RU)
 Argentina (AR)
 Romania (RO)
 Vietnam (VN)
 Georgia (G
 Serbia (RS)
 New Zealand (NZ
 Brazil (BR)
 Finland (FI)
 Sweden (SE)
 Japan (JP)2
 United Arab Emirates (AE)2
 Pakistan (PK)
 Indonesia (ID)
 Hong Kong (HK)
 Thailand (TH)
 Israel (IL)
 Egypt (EG)
 Lebanon (LB)
 Chile (CL)
 Norway (NO)
 Cambodia (KH)
 El Salvador (SV)
 Ireland (IE)1 Philippines (PH)
 Lithuania (LT)
 Peru (PE)
 Belarus (BY)
 Denmark (DK)
 Slovakia (SK)
 Iran, Islamic Republic of (IR)
 Kuwait (KW)
 Morocco (MA)
 Cyprus (CY
 Falkland Islands (Malvinas) (FK
 Slovenia (SI)
 Croatia (HR
 Ukraine (UA)
 Mexico (MX) 
Malta (MT)
 Hungary (HU
) Luxembourg (LU)

Welcome Macedonia!!!

It is so nice to have you visit.  We look forward learning more about Macedonia and its arts!

Join Rabbit's Moon Studio blog today and learn more about art and culture from around the world, as new artist from around the world join our quest.  Alexander was a great conquerer, a young charismatic leader, and a explorer of cultures.  Macedonia we salute you for the role you have led in bringing forth culture and art!

Rabbit's Moon studio: Art Thrives on Life/Readings from the Artist's Way...

Rabbit's Moon studio: Art Thrives on Life/Readings from the Artist's Way...: Art thrives on life. Life feeds it, enriches it, enlarges it. Cloistering ourselves away from life in the name of being artists causes us t...

Art Thrives on Life/Readings from the Artist's Way

Art thrives on life.  Life feeds it, enriches it, enlarges it. Cloistering ourselves away from life in the name of being artists causes us to run the risk of doing art that is arid, artless, and yes, heartless.  For most artists there is something risky about too much unstructured time, too much freedom, to make nothing but art.  We talk about self expression, we must develop a self to express.  A self is developed not alone, but in a community.  Day jobs not only pay the rent, but help develop stamina and structure.  Artists need both.  A novel can be a vast savannah in which I wonder alone- a musical may mean six years sailing across uncharted seas. Navigators need the stars to structure their voyage.  We artists, too, need other points of reference to stay the course. 
 The Artists Way/Every Day by Julia Cameron


An addendum.  As I was including this reading for you I thought of many things.  When I retired from teaching public school art education I thought I would love the absolute freedom of unstructured time after so many years of having to be on a minute by minute schedule without variation.  But, it has not been so.  I found I need structure and I was a highly social person.  Though I love time alone and free time, it is not as productive nor as effective with too much freedom...as Julia Cameron eludes to.  Teaching Art to special needs children and to young children taught me many things that came back to my art and life.  I learned a great deal from my profoundly handicapped students about how the brain functions and how at any level the brain still wants to have preferences.  The brain doesn't function as a whole as many of us think, it functions in parts, and on various levels of filtration.  Understanding that has helped me understand how I and others approach art.  I also learned no matter how high or low the level of function a person has they still function.  I know that is an odd statement, but it is this....they exists, they make choices, they feel, they express...It has helped me understand how to teach art to students with less than a 25 IQ or 3 month old mentality and it has helped me understand how to help my 99 year old Mother who suffered a devastating stroke in the center of her brain 9 years ago.  I have questioned this 9 year battle many times and what does my Mother gain and what does our family gain from it all.  But I now understand as I go to the nursing home, in the alzheimer/dementia unit in the maze of lost worlds and frustration....there is much for me to gain and to express in the form of art back to the world.  If I don't experience this, then I have no basis of understanding to create a work of art about humanity and inhumanity, of loss, of unselfish love, of anguish and compassion. I think of Picasso and his creation of Guernica, he had to understand the horrors of war and injustice.  I think of Hemmingway and how he thought he must live life in a big fashion, so he could write huge, and he did.

  I think of Georgia O'Keefe, who had a career as an elementary art teacher, until a friend sent her work to Alfred Steiglitz.  I think of Alexander Calder making his little circus people in Paris, for other artist, that gained him fame to go on to a larger stage. I think of Van Gogh and his mental anguish and his stays in mental institutions...his bout as a preacher in Souther France...hence the Potato Eaters. 

Art is life, and life is art.  We must be fully engaged in our lives.  Retreating from them may seem comfortable and necessary at times, but it is not a place to stay...only to visit and recharge.  

What I think is good to reflect on is taking stock of where we are and where we are going....looking at the hidden value in our past and present experiences.  One thing builds on another.  How could I ever conceive  the when I stood at the door of a class for profound children as a young teacher so terribly terrified I would be learning how to cope with My Mother as a stroke victim, in which I would have greater insight into how the brain functions.  And all this leads me to want to know more about the brain, time, String theory, quantum physics and more......and it will out in my art...because I have paid attention!

Lets take a peak at Senegal

I would like to highlight each new country as they come aboard our site with a special welcome, a closer look at their art and culture.  Click on the word Senegal and it will link you to a site on the Senegalese art and culture.

The Simple Things in Life

 

I am oft reminded that it is the simple things in life that matter most. We can have lofty ideals and ambitions, we can be in a hurry to achieve or just be too busy with the stuff of living, we can amass material things, but the essence of life is the unguarded simple moments we all to often take for granted. It is common that not until someone is ill or we have a loss in our lives that we look back and think if I had just treasured that moment. When I look at old masters paintings I am amazed at how they captured and honored simple things....like a loaf of bread, a jug of wine and cheese, a hunters table with the days catch, a fallen leaf, ......these still moments make up the movie that becomes our lives.
  

But one of the gifts artist have is the ability to pay attention, to catch the glint of sunshine on a lilly pad in a peaceful pond, or looking closely at a squirrel nibbled pine cone that a snail finds roost on, or look past all the fall leaves to find the one nestled in the perfect setting, 

                                                               pine cone with snail

                           nestled fall leaf

Van Gogh's Sunflowers

Or notice how a closeup of flowers in the field could be Van Gogh whispering in our ears, look how the light touches the daisies....

Or perhaps the kitchen becomes a Vermeer still life as the afternoon sun highlights the contrast just so......





















Or the details of the simplest of things like leaf shadows making a mural on a cypress trunk or rusted metal with a turquoise patina in the French Quarter of New Orleans....

Or the love and delight of a Grandfather for his Grandchild, age looking back at youth........

Perhaps, just perhaps, these moments are the best part of what life is about and when we pay attention, when we call it others attention with our artists view, then we are saying live in the moment, appreciate even the ordinary things and honor their being.

Look who visited us this week!!!!!

Russia United Kingdom Australia Germany Turkey Canada Cyprus India Italy Mexico Senegal Taiwan

Welcome Senegal!!!

It is really wonderful to have you join us.  We look forward to learning more about Senegal and its arts!

Rabbit's Moon studio: A Blank Canvas

Rabbit's Moon studio: A Blank Canvas: The first day of a new year is like a blank canvas. There is excitement and trepidation in facing an empty canvas or a blank page, we have ...

A Blank Canvas

The first day of a new year is like a blank canvas.  There is excitement and trepidation in facing an empty canvas or a blank page, we have not yet touched the purity of the undone, so much lies before us.  There is the fear that we will make a mistake or it will not be our best work, there is the excitement that it is a new work and new beginning that can take us to new heights.  I remember when I was teaching, I would often see small children staring at a blank piece of a paper unable to make a mark. I used to play a game with them to take away the fear, you make a mark and I will add a line....it always worked, once they made the first mark they were fine.  A new year is like that, what goals will we make and what goals will we keep.  Perhaps it is the making of the mark on the paper, perhaps it is the intent and the starting that is important for no matter how much we plan life interfere with its surprises we did not plan for.  So start my friends make a mark on your blank canvas of this year, start the process of creating a brand new year of possibilities.  Who knows where it will take you.  Vision great dreams and see where they go, for even if you fall short you have gone far higher than you may have thought and what does it matter in the end?  If you shot for the moon and landed on a star, well that is pretty amazing.  So get out your canvas, and make your mark!  Happy New Year All!