“Heâs a very special boy, he is very gentle and loves people and is missing an ear and back foot from being attacked when he was a baby. I bottle fed him and raised him for the last nine years. I feel like you are the perfect person to capture my sweet boy.”
From Maryel
I think Maryel says it all. I thought fondly of him as “Peter the Brave” the whole time I was painting his portrait. I still think of him that way. Most bunnies would have died instantly just from shock. He had a good strong heart. oil on aluminum, 4 x 4″
I paint lots of commissions of dogs and cats but it’s not every day I get one to paint a portrait of a rabbit. I grew up with rabbits and just lost my English spot rabbit, Harriet (who looked a lot like Peter!) earlier this year. Getting a prey animal to trust and love you is no easy feat, and when it happens its really special. Thanks so much for the commission, Maryel! It was a pleasure to spend time with your sweet boy.
Easter is just around the corner and I have several Rabbit Limited Edition Prints available in the shop. The connection of rabbits to Easter has always been a bit baffling to me, so I took some time this year to see what I could find out. Keep reading for information on the symbolism of rabbits through the ages and the origin of the rabbit as the egg bearer for this holiday.
The Joys of Motherhood
Limited Edition Print
$60
Rabbit, symbol of fertility and rebirth
In European traditions, the Easter bunny is known as the Easter hare. The hare has been a symbol for rebirth and fertility and has been included in rituals and religious roles for thousands of years.
Archaeologists have found hares that were given ritual burials alongside humans in fossils from as early as the Neolithic age (10000 BC â 2200 BC), a. They have interpreted the burials as a religious ritual, with hares representing rebirth.
During the iron age (1200 B.C. and 600 BC) when hares and chickens first arrived in Britain, some archaeologists believe they were seen as creatures of reverence, not dinner. Many examples of burials from this time period have been discovered without any signs of butchery.
Portrait of a Gentleman & Portrait of a Lady, Limited Edition Prints
The Easter Bunny
It’s not too much of a stretch to find a historical symbol of rebirth associated with the Christian holiday of Easter. But the origin is believed to have begun with a German tradition in the 1500’s of an egg-laying hare called âOsterhaseâ or âOschter Hawsâ.
After reading dozens of articles and historical documents, the start of the tradition still makes no sense to me! Eggs were forbidden during Lent so they were a treat to eat on Easter Sunday. There was a tradition in Germany to hide boiled eggs on Easter. The closest I could find as to how the hare delivered the eggs, was a story passed on through folklore.
When a woman hid colored eggs in the garden for her grandchildren to find, they saw a hare hopping away from them and thought the hare left them. The adults loved this idea and ran with it.
Now hundreds of years later, the idea is still running!
Who knows how it really started, but the tradition of the Easter hare caught on in Germany in the and has continued to spread ever since. He works much like Santa and brings children eggs, candies, chocolates (chocolate easter bunny’s are also a German invention!) and sometimes toys – if they’re on the nice list.
Hope you have a Happy Easter!
A Rabbit in the Forest after Hans Hoffman
Limited Edition Print
$60
Lots of people had been asking if I would release prints from recent paitnings. I found a local printer I love and am now offering some for sale in my store. I just received several beautiful images from my lovely client Theresa, showing how she framed hers. The backdrop of her beautiful farmhouse in Indiana decorated for the holidays is just magical. I loved seeing these images and I hope you do to!
She very kindly offered to share where she purchased her frames and mats. Contact me if you’d like information on where they came from and I will pass it on! Everything was ordered online and she was able to easily fit them together herself.
Did your favorite painting sell too quickly? Or are originals just out of your price range right now? I’ve been getting lots of requests and have a few specifically for a rabbit limited edition print or two. đ Go to my store to order yours today!
This month, I’m adding a limited edition print from the original painting, “Forest Floor with Rabbits”. This painting was part of my In Season monthly miniature series. I was studying a different master from the Dutch golden age of painting (roughly the 1600âs – 1800âs) and I came upon artists Otto Marseus van Schrieck and Rachel Ruysch. They made forest floor still lifeâs. I love how they combine the the detail and compositional elements found in still life paintings with the wild and unpredictable of the natural world.
My first monthly miniature series saw an entire year of rabbit paintings. I was very excited to pull rabbits into this series of still life paitnings as well. The English spot rabbit you see here (in duplicate!) is my own rabbit, Harriet. You can learn more about this painting on a previous blog post.
This rabbit limited edition print is an edition of 50. They are printed on high quality acid free paper and come with a signed Certificiate of Authenticity. Iâll be offering a new print each month for the next year so keep checking back. If you have a special request, please let me know and Iâll get it on the list!
My English Spot rabbit, Harriet, makes her debut in my newest monthly miniature painting. I was inspired by the forest still life paintings of Otto Mardeus van Schrieck a Dutch painter from the 1600’s.
Otto Mardeus van Schrieck
Otto Marseus van Schrieck, Snakes, toads and butterflies, 1639, oil on canvas, 24âł x 19.2âł
Van Schrieck’s paintings juxtapose light and dark. A sinister snake might lurk in the gloomy foreground while a radiant bloom or a moment of light glows from the background. The New York Times published an article about a new book that explores his work last November. It’s a really colorful read, and I highly recommend taking a look, if only to see some of his fascinating paintings.
Though some elements in my painting come directly from the careful study of a work of van Schrieck’s, I definitely took a lighter approach to my painting. I told my husband that, “I didn’t have such severe subject matter in me.” But after the painting was finished and signed, filled with flowers that reminded me of my family, a mountainous landscape that reminds me of my Pacific Northwest home, and insects, frogs and rabbits that remind me of my childhood, I had a miscarriage. It was the fifth since my son was born three years ago. After finding out, I picked up my paint brush and added a snake. I’m doing fine and my spirits are higher by the day. It’s just interesting, after all these years of painting, to recognize how much of myself I put into each one, however subtle or unconscious.
I hope you enjoy this month’s painting. Take a look below for some detail images. The Silvery Blue butterflies were particularly trying on the eyes!
My Self portrait painting has been selected as a finalist for the ARC Salon 2019 Competition!
I was fortunate to have my painting, “Admiral Vox” travel for last years exhibition and I couldn’t have been happier with how the Art Renewal Center (ARC) handled everything. It was such an incredible experience to have my artwork hanging alongside so many extraordinary pieces. I traveled to Barcelona to see the final installation of the exhibit at the MEAM which is a beautiful space. It’s inspiring to see so many contemporary artists pick up the tradition and make interesting work that’s relevant today. I couldn’t be happier to have another painting selected as a finalist.
Learn more about “Self Portrait – Expecting” in my previous blog post.
This year they received over 4,300 entries from 73 countries. The number of entries grew by more than 1,000 from last year! Winners will be posted July 1â please wish me luck!
âLeading the revival of realism in the visual arts, the Art Renewal Center (ARC), a 501(c)(3), non-profit, educational foundation, hosts the largest online museum dedicated to representational art and includes works by the old masters, 19th century, and 21st Century Artists as well as articles, letters and other online resources. The ARC is the foremost and only vetting service for representational art schools ensuring that the teaching curricula and quality of teacher and student work meet our strict standards to become ARC Approvedâ˘. The ARC Salon Competition, which is the largest and most prestigious competition in the world for realist artists painting, sculpting and drawing today with eleven categories and thousands of works competing, culminating in a traveling live exhibition of many of the winning works. The ARC works with other ARC Allied Organizationsâ˘, artist groups, museums, and publications to become a central news hub for the 21st Century Representational Art Movement. Read the ARC Philosophy written by ARC Chairman, Frederick C. Ross, to learn why ARC is so passionately dedicated to representational art.
The idea for the painting “Self Portrait – Expecting” came back when I was six months pregnant with my son and most of my reference images were gathered at that time. Rabbits were a big part of my childhood and I had two rabbits that lived in my painting studio. My rabbit Eleanor, was a natural addition to the painting. Not only did she sit at my feet while I painted, her species has been seen as a symbol of fertility for more than seven-hundred years.
I didn’t start painting “Self Portrait – Expecting” until my son was two and a half and after a series of miscarriages, I had recently learned that I was pregnant again. Eleanor had passed away since the photos were taken and right in the middle of working the painting, I lost yet another pregnancy, the fourth since my son was born. The act of making this painting was such a bitter sweet experience. The painting is about fertility, yet while making it, I was experiencing so much loss. I think that some of my resolve, the strength that I had to keep up for the sake of my two-year old made its way into my expression which changed throughout the painting process. In the end, the painting has become a reminder for me to be grateful and never give up hope.
This painting is on view at Arcadia Contemporary in the group show âARC Visions 2019â through March 2nd 2019.
I have three new rabbit paintings up at Arcadia Contemporary for the Art Renewal Center “ARC Visions 2019“, a group exhibition featuring the winners of the “Arcadia Contemporary Award” from the 13th Annual International ARC Salon. It’s an impressive group of artwork by eleven different artists and I had the privilege of meeting two of the artists at the opening, and another in Barcelona a couple of weeks before. Lovely people and extremely talented and dedicated artists. Go to Artsy to see all of the artwork in the exhibition. The exhibition is up through March 2nd.
The ARC Salon is an internationally revered competition that attracts submissions from some of the finest realist painters in the world.
The Art Renewal Center is a 501(c)(3) non-profit educational foundation championing the revival of realism in the visual arts and is devoted to furthering the realist art movement and helping talented artists with strong technical skills thrive. Arcadia Contemporary is recognized as one of the premiere showcases for those artists.
Portrait of a Gentleman and Portrait of a Lady, oil on aluminum, 5″ x 5″
Making portraits of rabbits is serious (and silly) business
Living with animals means forming unusual patterns of communication and quite powerful loving bonds. These two bunnies reside in my painting studio and we’ve become quite good friends. I’ve made many paintings of them over the past several years, some silly and some serious. These two paintings take the prize for the most formal in the bunch, however, yet these portraits are also as serious and silly as the rabbits they portray.
17th century Dutch portraits heavily influenced how I composed these portraits. Vermeer’s, “Girl with a Pearl Earring” is a prime example of this type of painting. My fascination for this genre can also be seen in my Into the Country monthly miniatures, created at the same time as these two.
The paintings explore our relationships with animals and their relationships with each other. I’ve spent most of my career painting portraits of people and my portraits of rabbits reflect that. There is an irony in a formal portrait painting of a rabbit because relationships between animals are seen as less legitimate than between humans. And more so this diptych since it anthropomorphizes the bond between this pair. Yet these two rabbits did dearly love each other and the feeling that an animal is “part of the family” is certainty not uncommon. So beyond being both silly and serious, they also feel at once ironic and genuine.
Remember when I said I had a dozen more mock up’s for rabbit paintings?
Thanks to Nicholas Dorman, painting conservator at the Seattle Art Museum, I was able to squeeze a few more paintings of rabbits into my busy schedule last year. As you may know, I currently split my studio schedule equally between personal and commissioned artworks and these paintings were a combination of the two!
The paintings were commissioned for his wife, whose maiden name is Rabbitt and their two children, whose middle names are also Rabbitt! I sent him all of those rabbit mock up’s that were on the back burner while I was working on a new monthly miniature project and he picked his favorite three. I feel so humbled and honored that he wanted to add some of my paintings to his collection when he gets to travel the world with the museum to conserve so many amazing paintings.
Setting Sail, pictured above, was inspired by a pose my rabbits struck in the studio. I like thinking of this one personifying Nick and his wife contemplating their adventures. Nick’s art history background influenced the other two paintings he chose for his son and daughter. The paintings were inspired by historical works by Hans Hoffmann and Matthias Withoos. I replaced Hans Hoffman’s hare and Matthias Withoos’s mushroom with my house rabbits who share the art studio with me.
Most bunnies would have died instantly just from shock. He had a good strong heart. oil on aluminum, 4 x 4″
