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Today marks the start of the lunar new year, the Year of the Rabbit. I've been looking forward to this particular zodiac year, for its strong association with the arts:

"In general, Rabbit years abound with creativity and an appreciation for the arts.
You might feel yourself being pulled toward exploring museums, music festivals and performances."

Doesn't that sound lovely?
Whether or not this turns out to be true, I have to admit that my husband and I booked tickets today to a few upcoming artistic events.
First up will be a concert of Montréal's Métropolitain Orchestra next week, and then the "Lasting Impressions" 3D experience in February.
The latter is being billed as a "mesmerizing transformation of Impressionist masterpieces, brought to life by a team of artists using state-of-the-art 3D motion technology".
An "immersive 3D visual event" and tour "through late 19th century Europe, presented in 3D on a giant ultra-high-definition screen", this show has garnered rave reviews. The "Lasting Impressions" visual arts event has even been featured on PBS (formerly the Public Broadcasting System), in the United States.
For later in February, we booked tickets for a virtual museum tour of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection - which would otherwise be about a six-hour drive from our home in Montréal.
And next week I'll be participating in the virtual four-day "Watercolor Live" 2023 conference, from Wednesday through Saturday.

I wish you a Year of the Rabbit that does indeed "abound with creativity and an appreciation for the arts", as my own lunar new year is definitely starting out that way.
On that note, I'll close with one of my watercolour sketches of the eastern cottontails that spend their days in our gardens. And with the very artistic words of a well-known known and much-loved old rabbit:

"Everything that is real was imagined first." ~ The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams, 1922.

Happy New Year!