"Venturing"
you can click to view larger

It all started with the painting of a journal for my dear friend Tiffany's birthday.


You can see a photo of the entire cover on her blog:
I did a quick scan of the journal before wrapping it with the intention of possibly later playing and altering the colors in Photoshop. My art room is clean at the moment and my back is much better (thank you for my well wishes!) so it seemed like the perfect time to try a new digital piece. Several hours of "photoshopping" last night and this morning have left me with an image that has entirely different things happening, things relevant to my life at this moment.

The rabbits needing to appear did not surprise me. Everywhere I go I am noticing these creatures; I am dreaming of them and seeing their shape in the clouds. There is a message there. A few months ago it was the fox and now it is the hare. As I was working on this digital piece I thought of a conversation where Tiffany mentioned the hare and the connection they have in mythology to the moon. I googled and found this quote:

"The association of rabbits, hares, and the moon can be found in numerous cultures the world over — ranging from Japan to Mexico, from Indonesia to the British Isles. Whereas in Western folklore we refer to the "Man in the Moon," the "Hare (or Rabbit) in the Moon" is a more familiar symbol in other societies. In China, for example, the Hare in the Moon is depicted with a mortar and pestle in which he mixes the elixir of immortality; he is the messenger of a female moon deity and the guardian of all wild animals. In Chinese folklore, female hares conceive through the touch of the full moon's light (without the need of impregnation by the male), or by crossing water by moonlight, or licking moonlight from a male hare’s fur. Figures of hares or white rabbits are commonly found at Chinese Moon Festivals, where they represent longevity, fertility, and the feminine power of yin.
...The Celts used rabbits and hares for divination and other shamanic practices by studying the patterns of their tracks, the rituals of their mating dances, and mystic signs within their entrails. It was believed that rabbits burrowed underground in order to better commune with the spirit world, and that they could carry messages from the living to the dead and from humankind to the faeries." ---Terri Windling

The journal I created for myself a week or so ago has a rabbit on the cover. I did a scan of that journal and used that image for my rabbit in this piece. A photo of leaves provided some texture for the top of her dress.
Vintage dragonfly wings instantly transformed her into a fairy, again inspired by Tiffany, the writer of things fairy.
When I added the nautilus for her it had personal meaning, then when I looked at the scan and questioned how it related to my own inner workings I saw the nautilus chambers as the parts of myself as I tend to segment off my life in compartments. The nautilus also represents growth as does the moon.
The three rabbits rush to view the rabbit of the moon as she ventures out into the world representing my wonder at the magical things happening in my life, the synchronicities and blessings.

It has indeed been a weekend of blessings, from my splendid time on Friday with Tiffany, to the good energy of the altered art group at our library on Saturday, to the simple cuddling on the sofa reading the story of the twelve princesses (the red fairy book-andrew lang) to Olivia and listening to my sweetheart of a hubby play his guitar in the background.



the above journal was made with slight variations of the instructions found on Teesha Moore's site.

I hope that wherever you are, you are taking some time from your day to honor your creative self.

Blessings,