A Cloud Came to Visit and Stayed all Day!

In the mountain studio the elevation is about 2,500 feet. I walked out on the deck early one day this past week and it was quite magical.   Some mornings a cloud settles on top of the mountain and envelops us  in a womb-like environment.  Every thing feels close and soft.  There was a silence that was present also, almost like whispers of tree spirits in the air. When one cannot see far away, then it is easier to look closely and within.  When I took the pictures I looked for different views out various windows ...then I thought about how would it would be to  look  through the screen adding a grid and texture to the photo.  I also let the window frame the view and offer an intense contrast in another shot.  It is interesting to think about how we look at things and question our perceptions.  How do our emotions play into to what we experience and what we see?  I read not to long ago about how a person born in the 1800's and person born today would see the same scene very differently.  It is colored by what they know and  believe to be true or possible.  So think about how you see your world now and how someone in the future or past may see the same scene.  Here I can imagine the past easily, these mountains are still rooted to the past closely.  It is not difficult to think of the native Cherokee walking through the midst hunting for deer or turkey, nor is it hard to think of the first white settlers clinging to careening wagons too close to mountain edges, or the sound of a model T black ford filled with Revenuers rounding the corner looking for a hidden still cooking sour mash illegal whisky. 

Rabbit Moon Studio Asheville 

A Cloud Settles on the House early in the Morning

The Cloud Creeps in Closer and Closer as the Morning Progresses

Looking at soft versus hard, dark versus light,  geometrical versus  

When I look at a grid, I think of how artists transpose pictures to a larger scale

Chronolgical Birth of a Sunset Over the Blue Ridge

Natures' installation: Sunset

Ever Changing Daily Event!

Sunset starts around 6pm, with everyday becoming earlier as the days become shorter as the season changes. It is an awesome event,  every night is different, the clouds, the angle of the sun, the colors, the contrast of sky and land, the final glow of the sunsets last glimpse....all changes, a new show each night to behold with wonder.  One feels honored just to be present amid such beauty and artistry...nature and the spirit of the oldest mountains in the world resonate deeply in ones soul!

There has been no photo shop alteration of these photos, colors are as the camera took them...no enhancement..just as nature intended.

Photo's by Elizabeth Gordon

OFF ON OFF ON

PHOTOGRAPH BY ELIZABETH ANN SUGGS                                      NORTH CAROLINA  FALL SKY

I would like to apologize to all my readers.  My computer is in the shop and I have just discovered how to post onto my blog on someone else's computer.  Technology!  It blesses us and curses us.  Without it I could not be in touch with all of you all over the world, which is a great joy to me.

OFF BOOK CHANNEL ON ART/PBS

This is an interesting series on PBS(public broadcasting station) 

Click on the arrow on the picture below to view the video.  I think you will find it very interesting and creative. I believe you can find it on you tube as well.

PUSH PINS, BURGER GREASE, SALT..ALL ART

I am not sure what to call this type of art, but it must be getting a name soon...it is where artists use all types of unusual materials to bring out the basic highlights of a picture into a work of art.  This one uses push pins.  I will enclose serval for you to view.  At first I was totally amazed with some of these, then no matter how interesting, there was a tricky feeling, a little bit slick or something.  So I don't know exactly where I land on my artist feeling about these, but I still do find them interesting. And one cannot deny the artist have talent.

PUSH PIN ART

ART WITH SALT

HAND ART

BURGER GREASE ART

Detail of Relative Universe/Alternate Worlds
by Elizabeth Gordon

Each of us has an inner dream that we can unfold if we will just have the courage to admit what it is. And the faith to trust our own admission. The admitting is often very difficult.
Julia Cameron 

Asheville/Art, Cultue and Nature

ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA

TAKE A TOUR, CLICK ON THE ARROW ON THE PICTURE ABOVE.

This video from you tube shows Asheville as it is, a little gem in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  The blue haze is really blue.  This is also the town near where "The Hunger Games" was filmed, as well as, the Last of the Mohegan's with Daniel Day Lewis, was filmed.  Fine crafts abound in this city and region.  I thought this would give you a little taste of this area.

True Blue Art Store

Cafe, Wine Bar and Book Store!

Study in city lines and shadows

Tobacco Farm in the mountains near my studio

Fresh Eggs

Pumpkins are out, It's Fall1

Double Decker Bus Coffe House

Blue Spiral Gallery

Blue Spiral, Sculptor

Blue Spiral Gallery, Glass Artists

Gallery in Weaverville

As the Crow Flies...Artist from Weaverville

A Dog Friendly Town 

Civil Rights Mural

A Young Musicians First Outdoor Concert!

Asheville, North Carolina 

MONA LISA CONTROVERSY

IS THE NEW MONAL LISA REAL?

Mona charms us and always has.  There is such mystery behind the half smile and the way her eyes follow you no matter where you stand.  We continue to discover new things about her and Leonardo Da Vinci with new technologies abound.  One of the first discoveries were the under painting and sketches based on Leonardo's on face.  And now the discovery of a new painting...is it Leonardo's, was it painted by him or a student, and when was it painted? 
I thought you might like a link to a site about the controversy around the newly found painting of the Mona Lisa.  There seems to be an agreement among some that the painting is a younger version of Mona Lisa painted a decade earlier.  Here is the link...New Mona(click)

Mona Lisa                 google image

Mona with underneath sketch showing       google image

Take a Drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway

I thought you might like to virtually take a drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  This was taken in the fall which is fast approaching leaf season here.  The leaves are starting to turn, but it will be later in October.  It is so beautiful and serene.  The parkway was built during the depression in the United States by a program called the CCC or WPA that gave people jobs during a time none could be found.  The Blue Mist of the mountains is where the name blue ridge comes from.  There is much to enjoy here, from hiking to river rafting to the arts and crafts of the mountain people.  Nature surrounds you here in a magnificent way.  Enjoy!

NATURE RESTORES THE ARTIST INSIDE

Here in the Blue Ridge Mountains, I am surrounded by nature and it is hard not to think of the  padding of moccasins that once walked softly through these forest.


Treat the Earth well, it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. American Indian Proverb

All things share the same breath-the beast, the tree, the man, air shares its spirit with all the life it supports. Chief Seattle

Thank you to Mountain View, California to a very loyal reader!  Contact me at rabbits5@aol.com...I would like to thank you for your loyal readership since this blog began almost a year ago.

This article is from Blue Ridge Heritage(click for link)

"Gina and Michael Wheeler

Broom maker and chair maker

Barnardsville, NC (Buncombe County)

Gina Wheeler, a broom maker, grew up in Hendersonville in an artistic family. She apprenticed for several years with broom maker Alton Blankenship, learning directly from him the art that Blankenship learned from his father in Rutherford County. Blankenship spoke admiringly of his protégé's work. She often accompanied him and assisted him at his demonstration engagements until his passing in August, 2011.

Michael Wheeler       Broom Maker
google image

Michael Wheeler is the great-grandson of Lark Wheeler, a prominent Yancey and Buncombe County chair maker of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Many of Lark Wheeler's chairs have survived in the community, and Michael has assembled a large collection. Michael uses many of the same materials and techniques that his grandfather did in assembling the chairs—including the use of green legs and dried rungs, and wooden pegs rather than nails. Michael learned to weave chair bottoms from Hunter Maney, an elderly Barnardsville resident. In June and July, as Maney taught him, Michael goes into the woods to "ross," or strip the bark from, hickory trees, which he stores in rolls to use for chair bottoms."

Michael Wheeler is a member of the Southern Highland Craft Guild.

Blue Ridge Mountains on Site Blog with Rabbits Moon Studio

For the next few weeks Rabbits Moon Studio blog will be on site in the Asheville, North Carolina in the Blue Ridge/Smoky Mountains. Back in the Asheville studio...we will be getting everything out and set up again for in the studio. 

Mother and calf in the Blue Ridge mist   

View on our Mountain 

Pumpkin Patch in the late afternoon fall light

Fall is on its way

Rabbit's Moon Studio and House

 We will explore artists, craftsmen, foods, culture and the change of seasons.  We will have a round of visitors who love to do photography and art...so we hope to get them to share with us and all of you.  
The leaves have not turned yet, but the pumpkins are out ready for carving.  For those of you who don't know about pumpkin carving and live in areas where this is not a custom we will share this American custom with you and some recipes using pumpkin.  

DALI'S MOUSTACHE

 Friends at the Dali Museum at St. Petersburg, Florida                      photo by Elizabeth Gordon

photo by Elizabeth Gordon

There are two museums for Salvador Dali's collection.  One is in Figures, Spain and the other is in St. Petersburg, Florida.  Both are unique in their own way. The one in Figures was designed by Dali and the one in St. Petersburg is in a stunning new building designed by the architects that created the glass dome of the Louvre.  These are friends of mine from Colorado and my partner Ann.