Lagomorphia

Every artist has preferences for some subjects over others. Some artists end up becoming expert specialists in a small range of subjects and/or only one medium and are very satisfied with that.  I like to move back and forth between oils and watercolor, or use graphite or colored pencil. And sometimes even sculpt dolls.  And although I like painting everything except landscapes I happen to be particularly drawn (no pun intended) to small animals and often anthropomorphize those little creatures in silly ways. Rabbits have regularly been targets of my skewed humor.

I think I have painted about half a dozen of these little buns dressed in lace collars. I especially like the spotty ones like this one. 'Spotty ones' being the technical rabbit term I am sure. The original watercolors were finished with colored pencil. They were 5" x 7" and some were 8" x 10". Although long sold some of these rabbit images are available now on ornaments, mugs, cards, and as  prints at  Zazzle.

This tortoise and hare were originally painted/sold in ACEO format, which means it was a miniature piece of art  3.5" x 2.5".   This kimono wearing rabbit and also this shopkeeping rabbit and crow were also done in ACEO format. And a little lilac white rabbit.  Just a few of my rabbits.

Again, watercolor and colored pencil.

As long as there has been the concept of art there have been two views about the work artists do. Many people pretend the whole art world is a mystery to them and that accomplished artists were just born with this natural gift.  I have always had a problem with this concept. Art is simply the product of hard work by someone who wants to produce art. We start as children, all of us, with the same basic skills and artists practice their craft over and over and over. Some look at an artist's work they like and say to themselves they could never do that. What they don't see are the countless stacks of drawings or paintings that never made it past the rubbish bin. We artists often are asked 'how long did it take you to paint that?'  My answer is in the neighborhood of 55 years.

I guess I have been interested in drawing rabbits a very long time.