Rabbits are sacred to Aphrodite, the goddess of love, beauty, and marriage -- for rabbits have “the gift of  Aphrodite” (fertility)  in great abundance. In ancient Greece, the gift of a rabbit was a common love token from a man to his male or female lover; in Rome, the gift of a rabbit was intended to help a barren wife conceive. Carvings of rabbits eating grapes and figs appear on both Greek and Roman tombs, where they symbolize the transformative cycle of life, death, and rebirth.

Hares are associated with the Artemis, goddess of wild places and the hunt, and newborn hares are not to be killed but left to her protection.  In Teutonic myth, the earth and sky goddess Holda, leader of the Wild Hunt, is followed by a procession of hares bearing torches. Although she has descended into a witch–like figure and boogeyman of children’s tales, she was once revered as a beautiful, powerful goddess in charge of weather phenomena. Freyja, the headstrong Norse goddess of love, sensuality and women’s mysteries, is also served by hare attendants. She travels with a sacred hare and boar in a chariot drawn by cats.

Kaltes, the shape–shifting moon goddess of western Siberia, likes to roam the hills in the form of a hare, although she is usually pictured in human form, wearing a headdress with hare’s long ears. Ostara, the goddess of the moon, fertility and spring in Anglo–Saxon myth, is often depicted with a hare’s head or ears, and with a white hare standing in attendance. This magical white hare lays brightly colored eggs which, in centuries past, were given out to children during spring fertility festivals. This ancient tradition that survives in the form of the Easter Bunny today.

If you'd like to read more about the folklore of our leaping, hopping, cotton-tailed cousins, I recommend The Leaping Hare by George Ewart Evans & David Thomson, and Rabbits Everywhere by Alicia Ezpeleta.

The art above is: "The Rabbit Bride" (for Delia Sherman), "The Rabbit Maiden of Stiniel," "The Hares of Pink Hill" (from my Desert Spirits series), and some bunny girls from one of my sketchbooks.

There was good spring rain in the desert this year, so everything is looking fresh and green...and the rabbit population has exploded.

My bedroom here in Tucson is in a former horse barn, surrounded by mountains, cacti, and wildlife. In the morning, the desert beyond my porch is hoppin' with white-tailed desert bunnies, ignoring me and going about their business as I drink my morning coffee. . . .

"Rabbit Maiden,"  from a desert sketchbook

I've just traveled from Dartmoor back to the Arizona desert...from deep green hills to dusty blue mountains...from sheep in the fields to coyotes in the wash. My eyes are still adjusting to a subtler color palette; my body is adjusting to the time zone change; and I have to keep reminding myself which side of the road to drive on in my battered old pick-up truck.

Here's a drawing of a shy desert spirit, related to the mule-eared deer who delicately pick their way through a prickly terrain of cactus, creos0te, and scrub.  She's a melancholy soul -- probably because I'm missing someone who is an ocean away.

I've just sent this painting off to the framers for an exhibition and auction at Monks Withecombe Gallery in Devon at the end of this month. (Click on the painting to see a larger version.) All the works in the show, including these little sleepy fellows, have been donated to raise money to preserve the beautiful public Commons in the village of Chagford. There will be work by many other artists as well, including Brian Froud, Alan Lee, Marja Kee Kruyt, Katherine Lightfoot, Chris Chapman, Susan Derges, and Stephen Dooley. Contact the gallery for  dates, times, and other information. Alas, I won't be able to see the exhibition myself -- I'll be traveling back to Arizona then, which is rotten timing.

The painting is called "Nap Time on Chagford Commons," 20 x 12 inches (unframed); medium: oil paints and pencil on canvas paper. It's based on a similar image I painted last year but which was damaged by a printing company. This exhibition gave me the excuse to re-create it, and all for a good cause.

Spring has finally truly arrived on Dartmoor. There are bluebells in the woods, lambs in the fields, and blues skies at last after weeks of persisent winter grey. This little bunny girl is dressed up for the local May Day/Beltane celebrations.

"Beltane Bunny," pencil on paper

...where I'll be posting all kinds of critters and creations, on as regular a basis as my work and travel schedule permits. Hope you like them. Comments welcome!