I spent a gorgeous week at the end of August reading “Raising Hare” by Chloe Dalton a beautiful book about rescuing a Leveret in a February storm and the subsequent tales that evolved from their meeting. If you’re in the need for a book, to hunker down with on an Autumnal evening, theres not better choice in my opinion.
The image of a hare in a harvest landscape has been drifting in my minds eye over the past year, and whilst reading Chloe’s delicious descriptions the picture came into sharper focus. Out came the pencil and pens, and a preliminary sketch took shape with some scratchy felt tip details. I love the immediacy of felt tips and the bolder lines they create. Favouring working in a limited colour palette so that shapes and patterns feel more like a printed textile and less like a realistic drawing.
After the first sketch I decided I felt the need to invest a little more time in understanding the form of the hare, and how to render it in my style of line drawing. I love the way you loose a bit of control using a paint brush, it slows you down and you really have to commit to each stroke. I worked using my set of Caran D’ache Goauche paints, that travel to and from work with me, just in case the painting mood strikes. At this point I had no plans for what this design was going to be, I just felt the need to play with the idea.
Still with no grand plan, I quickly sketched up the bones of the design in Illustrator, creating vector paths for the laser cutter to follow. I wanted to explore painting the hare in finer detail again, but also work on the proportions of the landscape. I created two pieces on the laser cutter, one with the hare in the foreground, and one with the landscape in the background.
The pieces travelled home with me, and I spent a warm afternoon painting whilst waiting for a water meter to be installed. I really enjoyed having no distractions and playing with colour and pattern. Letting my mind wander and think about how this image can evolve
This is the finished piece for now, but some seeds of ideas have been sown. And I’m excitedly waiting for the first of those to come into fruition. I can’t wait to share that with you in the lead up to Christmas. But it has also gotten me thinking about more three dimensional pieces, storytelling the animal encounters I have on my daily walks with Ned.
Speaking of creature encounters, I still vividly remember my first meeting with a Hare, less than 18 months ago. Whilst seeking a patch of wild garlic, I stumbled across an abundance of it, in a little copse less than a mile from my house. And whilst I was crouched, I turned to see a Hare race past me less than 2 metres away. To say it was incredible, doesn’t really do it justice, it felt like an out of body experience. And I feel very lucky to have witnessed it.
The touching descriptions and relationships formed in “Raising Hare” only further confirm this animals majestic character in my mind. I was dismayed to learn that the Hare is the only animal that doesn’t have a close season for hunting in the UK. Meaning there is no reprieve for them being hunted for Sport during the period of time that they are bearing or rearing young. Chloe Dalton is leading the charge and petitioning government to change the legislation and protect hares. If you would like to sign the petition you can do so here : https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/724795