The Rabbit and The Moon

There is of course, backstory behind the artwork. First off, this month's theme for our local art group was *Moon* which in and of itself did not excite me too much. But I kept seeing ads on Canadian TV for a restaurant that was having a "Moon Festival Special" and that perked me up. It was oriental food, so I started a search o-line for some info.
It seems three countries celebrate the Moon Festival (essentially a harvest festival); Japan, Korea and China. It is the Chinese version that inspired this work, which I apologize for the poor quality of the photos. maybe clicking on one will give more detail, and let you see the texture and work involved.

As the legend goes, in the Buddhist story "Śaśajâtaka", a monkey, an otter, a jackal, and a rabbit resolved to practice charity on the Uposatha, believing a demonstration of great virtue would earn a great reward.
When an old man begged for food, the monkey gathered fruits from the trees and the otter collected dead fish from the river bank, while the jackal wrongfully pilfered a lizard and a pot of milk-curd. The rabbit, who knew only how to gather grass, instead offered its own body, throwing itself into a fire the man had built. The rabbit, however, was not burnt. The old man revealed himself to be Śakra (God of the Heavens), and touched by the rabbit's virtue, drew the likeness of the rabbit on the moon for all to see. It is said the lunar image is still draped in the smoke that rose when the rabbit cast itself into the fire.

The background behind the moon is a combination of Chinese text, some from old books, some stamped, all on various types of paper, and collaged together. Then they were coated with fluid acrylic and some interference colors, which glow when the light hits them right. The moon is cut from another canvas panel, same material as the back support, and a photo image was collaged on, with paint added to that. The rabbit is a sheer, stick on material that is covered with holographic glitter.

I used bottle caps to show the various moon phases and had an interesting surprise. The background paper for the dark of the moon was a metallic, and when coated with Triple Thick Glaze, it tarnished and crackled, much like the color of the moon that is the focal point. No clue this would happen! The papers around the edges were scraps I had saved from other projects and turned out to be a good foil for the frame I had painted red. The blues accented the cool color of the moon and the irridescent bumps on the one paper almost matched the glitter of the rabbit. The symbol in the upper right hand corner that looks quite like an "A" is the figure for "Moon".

And so, I have a rabbit in the moon, and am happy with him, though it was a hurried and not nearly perfect project. But I very much like the story and the moral of it, so it endears the piece a bit more.

May we all be rabbits......

Pax.