卯年 usagidoshi

Gee, all at once it's almost 2011! So! Subsequently! Hence this morning's sketch represents 2011, 卯年,うさぎどし, usagidoshi, the year of the rabbit.

Whereas we, in the Occident, see a man in the moon, the Japanese see a rabbit in the moon (a parenthetical aside; since visiting there and having the rabbit pointed out to me, nowadays I have to really work at it now to see a man instead of a rabbit in the moon!), hence the moon 'round the 2011 rabbit. For some reason I anticipate the 2011 is going to be a strange, surreal, year hence (3 hences in a row, my 4th grade teacher would be appalled !) the almost psychedelic shadings. (and one last parenthetical aside; I'm sure my choice of colors was also influenced both by the preceding sunset photo and by the color of the moon during the eclipse earlier this month.)

soft pastel on 12 by 12 inch card stock.