Luis Melendez, Still Life with Fruit, Jug and Bread

Matisse, Still Life with Vegetables

How an Artist sees can be as different as there are stars in the night. To value how an artists creates and to share his vision takes into a world that is full of discovery. We learn to envision something differently, perhaps in way we might never think of. I can remember seeing Georgia O'Keefe's painting of a New Mexico Mountain range with a river snaking through, as if for the first time when I stood at her studio at Ghost Ranch. I had viewed the picture before, but until I saw what she saw it was like an aha moment: what had seemed abstract before became real. I was absolutely amazed.

Family Farms

As we drove up highway 441 in Georgia we saw a bedraggled sign that had seen its better days, advertising turnip and collard greens. Now if you grow up in the South like I did, there is little better than a good mess of greens and hot cornbread!

We also found some fresh rutabaga, which I had never seen before. I have only seen the roots in the grocery store sealed with wax. These were beautiful and the farmer told us to cook the greens as well. There is something quaint about these old family farms, that remind me of childhood and times past. With large conglomerates taking over, it is getting rarer and rarer to see farms like these. They are being driven out of the market. There is hope though as a movement is growing in the USA to use local products and support local growers. As we continued on route and I got lost in the meditation of a long drive my mind wandered to the thought that these scenes are like art installations. I think in the next series of post you will see even better what I mean. If you are familiar with Red Grooms and is New York City re-creations you might see what I am thinking. At this point it is just a thought, a seed of a thought, that is forming in my mind.

In the Land of Cotton/South USA

Cotton was king

at one time in the Southern economy and then it fell by the wayside to synthetics and soy which became the crop of choice. So much to my surprise as we were heading from Florida up through the center of Georgia we saw fields and fields of cotton growing. Rarely did we see soy growing anywhere, all the fields are back to cotton. So the demand is up, and synthetics must be less preferable.

My Mother picked cotton in the fields of Mississippi when she was a young girl in high school. She told me how difficult it was to learn and how she had to soaked her sore fingers at night after a day of picking. "If you don't pluck the white bowl out just right the surrounding sharp husk prick your fingers badly", she would tell me. Mom was paid 50 cents for a hundred pounds of cotton. It is amazing to think of the back breaking work that it was, and a young thin high school age young woman, out picking and carrying huge bags along with other field hands.

Then came the industrial revolution and now huge machines come by and pick the cotton. However, as you can see in some of the pictures a lot of cotton is left on the stalks left to rot. They roll the cotton up in large yellow bales for market. It is hard to think of cotton and the South without thinking of plantations and slavery. It is hard not to think of the suffering and inhumane treatment of people. There were artists who painted slaves and workers in the fields in the South. There are artists who paint workers world wide in different styles and with different meaning conveyed. I think of Thomas Hart Benton-The Cotton Pickers, Vincent Van Gogh-The Peat Fields, Diego Rivera-The Detroit Industry, Courbet-The Stone Breakers, Munch-Workers on The Way Home and others. Walt Whitman's poems are filled with references to laboring for others. Dorthea Lange's depression era photographs are unforgettable. There is a richness and honesty of man close to the land. There is an on going story of people involved with harvesting, hard work, and struggle-it is an interesting subject for artists of all kinds..from musicians, to actors, to dancers, and visual artists.

Updates to our resource list and a special Thank you!

Updates to our Arts News, Art Galleries, and Art Centers list with a special thank you to artist Janet Riley, an artist from the U.K. Janet responded to our call for updates in our resources list to make Rabbit Moon Studio site a one stop site for readers for art information. With Janet's help we added three new sites. We welcome all recommendations for museums, art centers, galleries, art websites or blogs you might suggest. If you have trouble leaving a suggestion in the comment page then just email it to rabbits5@aol.com and I will get it directly.

You will want to check out the Salt Mill, Artshole(yes, not a joke) and the Saatchi Gallery in our columns to the left of the blog where they are all clickable. These are all great additions.

Signs along the way

Signs are an art unto themselves

There are slick signs done by big time commercial art agencies and then there are the small town creative signs. I love the signs made in small towns, everyone gets to try an idea no matter how good or bad it is. In larger communities the regular person never gets a chance and has to take a back seat to big ad agencies. It is almost like primitive or folk art, no matter your training, you get to make something.

We saw this sign as we crossed over the Florida state line into Georgia. It had seen its better days, leaning dramatically towards the curb, fading in color, and metal rusting. You can almost hear the thinking for the creation of the sign..."now tires are round, so let's make our sign round and make it look like a tire also" There is a name for buildings that are the shape of what they sell, I am not sure if there is one for signs, but there should be!

Florida, Fruit Stands an Tourists

Heading out of Florida one always passes a constant, the Fruit Stand. Fall and winter is the season many oranges and grapefruits ripen. Tourists pull over at gas stations, orange juice stands, places that sell little fake alligators all to buy a bag of oranges for friends as they leave the state. The long shadows and deep contrast of the fall light gives an interesting look to the iconic fruit stands. The picture of the older man with the baseball cap and drink seem like a portrait that awaits a story.

Positive Thoughts for Artists

Your thoughts and actions are like stones dropped into still waters causing ripples to spread as they move outward.

In a world of six billion people, it’s easy to believe that the only way to initiate profound transformation is to take extreme action. Each of us, however, carries within us the capacity to change the world in small ways for better or worse. Everything we do and think affects the people in our lives, and their reactions in turn affect others. As the effect of a seemingly insignificant word passes from person to person, its impact grows and can become a source of great joy, inspiration, anxiety, or pain. Your thoughts and actions are like stones dropped into still waters, causing ripples to spread and expand as they move outward. The impact you have on the world is greater than you could ever imagine, and the choices you make can have far-reaching consequences. You can use the ripple effect to make a positive difference and spread waves of kindness that will wash over the world.

Should the opportunity arise, the recipient of a good deed will likely feel compelled to do a good deed for someone else. Someone feeling the effects of negative energy will be more likely to pass on that negative energy. One act of charity, one thoughtful deed, or even one positive thought can pass from individual to individual, snowballing until it becomes a group movement or the ray of hope that saves someone’s life. Every transformation, just like every ripple, has a point of origin. You must believe in your ability to be that point of origin if you want to use the ripples you create to spread goodness. Consider the effect of your thoughts and actions, and try to act graciously as much as possible.

A smile directed at a stranger, a compliment given to a friend, an attitude of laughter, or a thoughtful gesture can send ripples that spread among your loved ones and associates, out into your community, and finally throughout the world. You have the power to touch the lives of everyone you come into contact with and everyone those people come into contact with. The momentum of your influence will grow as your ripples moves onward and outward. One of those ripples could become a tidal wave of positivity.

This quote is from the Daily Om, a site which promotes positive thinking. I think about how artists have such a tremendous effect on the world and how much good we can do. I thought you might enjoy these thoughts.

Rabbit's Moon is Going on a Road Trip/First Stop Tallahasse

Road trip!

Rabbit's Moon goes on the road and you get to go too.

First stop Tallahassee, State Capital of Florida

And here we see the Capital Punishment Roller Derby Team,

a wonderful group of women that are speed happy.

This is Tallahassee's speed demon rough and ready women roller derby women. Women's roller derby skating is a sport that has a cult following in America. The women dress up, cop a name and off they go. They may look like rough girls, but many are nurses, teachers, and lawyers.

It is just a fun night out and a good way to exercise with a little competition. It is not quite as tough as the roller derby's of the 1950's, but it is close. You have to been in good shape and skate well.

I love the concept and the fun these women have to get out and compete while having a great time.

Art Daily News

This website we are adding is an on-line art daily news. It will allow our readers to keep up with the latest news in the art world.

http://www.artdaily.org/( clickable it the column art news on the right of the blog page)

Welcome Lebanon

Welcome Lebanon!!! So nice to have you with us. We look forward to learning more about Lebanese artist and culture.

The Hand as a Portrait

The Portrait of the Hand

In the details of every day life are hidden moments we all share that form our world. They are so easy to miss and to overlook: a touch of compassion , a pat on the back of support, a hand held for comfort, a glance of understanding. Noticing these details are partially what make artists sensitive to the flow of life.

I remember my Grandmother's hands so vividly. She sat me down when I was about nine years old to teach me how to make her famous cinnamon bun rolls. She was a marvelous cook and the rolls were a family treasure. She just didn't realize she chose the grandchild with the worst memory! What I did remember were her hands: how they kneaded the dough, how she sprinkled the flour, how the rolling pin moved in her hands. I remember every detail of her hands, but not the recipe! I later drew her hands over and over. She was a strong woman, who was born in a covered wagon and lived to see the first moon shot. She could wring a chicken's neck, have fried chicken for supper and hold a baby gently at the same time. It was a tough life growing up on a farm and raising four children through a depression with a disabled husband. Her hands were broad, big boned and every wrinkle spoke her life's story.

In these photo's you see my brother holding my Mother's hands so tenderly and gently. This is a portrait that speaks volumes of Mother and son, aging and youth, compassion and sadness, and life reversing roles. Now 98 1/2 my Mother's hands still hold a graceful pose with great strength. If I had to capture my Mother's character in three words, it would be love, grace and strength. I believe her hands reflect the same characteristics.

I remember studying in art history that master artists would call in their most skilled apprentices to do the hands in a painting. Leonardo Da Vinci did hands so well as an apprentice he excelled over his own master teacher. In renaissance paintings we see hands in a more stilted pose with meaning hidden in each gesture. It is interesting when one looks at hands against the backdrop of art history and various styles, how the presentation of hands has changed. It gives us greater insight into how we view ourselves as human beings through history.

Art is not what you see, but what you make others see

Georgia O'Keeffe

Good Morning Ireland, Germany and Russia

Good Morning Ireland, Germany, Russia and the United States! How nice to wake up and see you up, about and reading the blog! That makes it a great day already.

How The Artist Mind Transposes Images

I think artists see the world a bit differently. We are trained early to see line, texture, shape, and color in all things. You may look at a chain, for instance, and just think chain. An artist, however, will think....parallel lines, round shapes, gun metal silver, contrast, and then at the end think...chain. The creativity within us makes the artist think...hmmm, how could I use this is a piece of art work. Will I use it as the photo, in itself as the art work, will I make a collage and use a part of the image as a whole, will I make a sculpture that is larger than life to make you notice the details, or will I make a bracelet and repeat the pattern of design? I remember once studying there are only 5 or 6 patterns that are repeated in nature and in the world. I do not remember them, other than spiral. I just remember being fascinated anyone could get all of these thousands of designs around us down to only five or six.

A Good Teacher is Never Forgotten

Yesterday I went to an opening and round table discussion for Frank Rampolla at the Leepa Ratner Museum in Tarpon Springs, Florida. The discussion was correlated with an exhibition of his paintings. I had my own personal story that brought me to the event yesterday. Frank Rampolla was a teacher at the university I attended for my undergraduate degree. My major was printmaking and Frank became my teacher. The semester started out with a different professor who knew little of printmaking, showed up rarely to teach, leaving a graduate assistant in charge(which was the fashion in the 60's), and had given the whole class horrible grades. Midway through the semester Frank Rampolla was brought in from Ringling School of Art. He was a generous loving wonderful person. He loved printmaking and he loved his students. The class went from a horrible experience to a wonderful place of learning-an exciting place of ideas.

There was tension in the department when Frank decided to grade the students himself and I know it was not easy for him. I am sure there was a battle in the art department, but he persisted. He was a fair man and could not stand injustice. Our grades all went up to appropriate levels. Frank Rampolla became one of my favorite professors, so it was shocking when I learned he had died the next year. He was only in his forty's and left behind an 11 year old son.

One of the interesting parts of the round table yesterday is that 11 year old boy was there, all grown up. I got to personally tell him what a wonderful person his father was and how he turned around a terrible situation for students into a positive wonderful experience. One of the speakers told how at he was driving to Frank's funeral thinking there might not be so many people there, and then he looked in his rear view mirror and there were lines and lines of cars, full of students from two different universities...Ringling School of Arts and University of South Florida on the way to Frank Rampolla's funeral to honor their teacher.

A Good teacher is never forgotten. It was what made me drive to another town 45 years later to honor a wonderful teacher and an extraordinary man.

Welome Taiwan!

Welcome Taiwan!!! It is so nice to have you.

I was in Taiwan once, flying in space available on a military flight, no more that I arrived than they told us we had to get ready to return the next morning or we would not get back in time to teach. I was young and poor, so I could not afford to have my salary docked. I left with great regret. But while there I had one of best Chinese meals I have ever had there, chicken, scallions , and ginger in an oyster sauce! It was so fresh and tasty and what I saw of Taiwan in the short time I was there was wonderful. I will always be sad I did not get to see more. We look forward to hearing more from you about art and artist of your area.

We are adding another update to our Museum section. It is Brandy Wine Musuem which carries the work of the Wyeths: N.C. Wyeth(Father of Andrew), Andrew Wyeth and his son Jamie Wyeth. http://www.brandywinemuseum.org/

I believe some of Andrew Wyeth's work is also shown in Greenville, South Carolina at a museum there.

As I will constantly update these sections you are welcome to send in information from you country or town. It will help us formulate a helpful data base for all our readers. Sort of one stop shopping!

http://www.brandywinemuseum.org/ is clickable on the right hand column, websites of interest.

Welcome Vietnam!!!

It is a pleasure to have you with us. We look forward to learning more about Vietnamese artists and culture.

An Outstanding Evening/All Art Inspires

Last night I had the privilege of being invited to hear the Florida Orchestra led by Stefan Sanderling. It was a magical evening.

Classical music has not been in my realm of experience, other than the pieces that we all know like Beethoven's 5th symphony. A musician friend has helped me better understand the world of classical music, by comparing the styles of music to the styles of art, like impressionism and expressionism. It was like a light bulb turning on, I began to get an insight I had not had before.

I had been in an elementary orchestra as a child and it taught me to appreciate the discipline it takes to make a good sound with one's instrument. I also learned how important a team can be working toward one goal. Those lessons stayed with me the rest of my life. I appreciate the absolute fragile tender beauty of a musician who is so skilled the notes sound almost angelic. Last night I experienced that in my introduction to violinist Stefan Jackiw. I can truly say I felt I was in the audience of a genius. Stefan is the son of physicist parents. His heritage is Korean and German. He graduated from Harvard and the New England Conservatory.

He is considered one the most significant artists of this generation, stunning audiences with a skill that holds them awe struck. It was poetry as much as it was music as he played Beethovan's Concerto for Violin in D major.

When I experience an event that moving, hearing another artist reach heights that are pure genius, it motivates me in my own art. Being in the presence of other arts, experiencing drama, music, dance, film....all of these things enrich us as artists and human beings. It enriches our communities and our world.

I encourage you to go see Stefan Jackiw if he comes to your area. If, not I encourage you to look him up on the internet and watch his performances. I believe you will be as awe struck as I was.

As artists if we support all arts, we are stronger for it and our communities will be better for it as well.

This is Stefan's website if you would like to know more, and believe me you do!!!

http://www.stefanjackiw.com/en/(clickable in the column websites of interest)

and hear him play at http://www.opus3artists.com/artists/stefan-jackiw