Throughout his life Austin Schmitt says he’s “only dabbled in art.” But after a creative burst at the age of 75, the former federal government economist authored his first book, “Musings of Owl & Rabbit.”
Blending poetry, prose and Schmitt’s own pastel and watercolor illustrations, “Musings” wowed the judges enough to take first place in the Catholic Media Association’s 2026 self-published fiction books category.
“I don’t consider myself an artist,” said Schmitt, sitting at his kitchen table in his 1802 farmhouse in Amherst County, 20 miles north of Lynchburg. “Our Lord’s using whatever gifts he gave me because they’re gifts — that’s what talent is. I didn’t think I had it. I’ve had no formal training. I struggle.”
A “life-lessons” book, Schmitt says that “Musings” is for anyone asking big questions about the things that matter. “The thought came to me — they’re in the forest and the rabbit wants to learn something and the rest is that story,” he said. “The rabbit is us.”
The first thing that Owl teaches Rabbit is to appreciate beauty. Even considering a particle of dust, Owl queries Rabbit: “Are we staring at something formed billions of years ago, at the birth of the cosmos? As my wise grandmother once said, ‘To awe is very important … it’s prayer’s first cousin.’ ”
The next page of the book opens to one of Schmitt’s magnificent illustrations of Owl and Rabbit beholding a cosmos much greater than themselves.
“I just think the world is starving for beauty,” said Schmitt, who was a parishioner with his wife, Patty, and seven children at St. Rita Church in Alexandria, Nativity Catholic Church in Burke and St. Clare of Assisi in Clifton until moving to Amherst in 2020. “I believe that all of us have the deepest longing to possess the true, the good and the beautiful. Beauty is the attractive part of that and it’s all around us.”
While Schmitt is modest about his work, his grandfather, Carl Schmitt, was a prominent 20th-century Catholic artist whose paintings are displayed in the National Gallery of Art in Washington and museums worldwide. “It’s very hard for me to explain about the power of my grandfather,” said Schmitt. “He told me, ‘I could have made a lot of money as a chemist but Our Lord wanted me to be an artist.’ “
Schmitt’s vision for the modern fable format was inspired by Charles Mackesy’s “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” — the 2019 book that has sold more than 10 million copies. Schmitt said Mackesy’s book has a “feel-good” quality to it, but he was going for something “a little bit more vertical, more transcendent.”
“The idea was to appeal to someone who had not thought about their creator or had not thought about beauty,” he said. “What this is all about is to give glory to God and maybe reach some people who wouldn’t ordinarily be reached.”
The book can be read in a half-hour, but its timeless wisdom is best savored and re-read many times. Schmitt’s poetry points to a God who is always waiting to be revealed.
“I have a prayer, melt me, mold me, fill me, use me,” said Schmitt, an Opus Dei supernumerary who has been a daily Massgoer for more than five decades. “I can’t explain the fact that I couldn’t do poetry, and all of a sudden I could. I’ve got a book now of probably 60 poems. I wake up and they’re given to me.”
A sequel, “More Musings of Owl & Rabbit” was published this year, while the “Owl & Rabbit Newsletter” offers more of Schmitt’s poetry and thought-provoking dialogues with Owl and Rabbit.
From the front porch of his farmhouse, Schmitt looks out on an arcadian wonderland. A pair of 10-point bucks, swarms of songbirds and a very large rabbit all appeared as he talked about what he hopes readers will take away from “Musings of Owl & Rabbit.”
“Wonder, delight and pausing to think about the eternal,” he said. “Activity isn’t everything in this life. Remember as a kid when you would lie on your back and look at the stars? That’s the idea.”
Hale is a freelancer in Front Royal.
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