March Hare

So I’m still under recovery from my continuing back injury. Though getting a bit better, I still need to take plenty of rest. A bit frustrating not to be as physically active as I wish to be, but also a good opportunity to spend more time getting more creative again! And what should I work on this time? Well, I was somewhat in the mood of getting reacquainted with pastel drawings and creating a whimsical creature. But what creature should I go for this time?

The Sketch

To start with, it’s nearly March isn’t it? How about start with something based on that coming month? Then it dawned on me: The first creature that came to mind was a rabbit, and with the month of March approaching, I then came up with a March Hare. That’s right, from the Children’s Fairytale, Alice in Wonderland! Perfect because some time ago, I made a painting called Alice and Friends whilst following a class about Children’s Illustrations with Adolfo Serra. I was hoping to develop the theme from this story a bit more and create a series of paintings but never got around to it. So now is the time to resume! I then grabbed a sheet of Pastel Mat in Anthracite and began sketching away with a white Derwent pastel pencil. And here is my March Hare holding his cup of tea from the Tea Party. Just for fun, though, I made her even cuter by introducing a Teddy Bear clip on the ear!

Coloring In

A variety of pastel-based mediums were used for this piece. Most of it though was Pan Pastel which comes in handy for larger areas. What I love about this medium is that, being compressed powder in pans and applied with sponges, it is less messy and gives an even coverage as we see below. I also enjoyed trying out their latest addition to their range, the Pearlescent series. This time, I just went for the blue for the outfit. The shimmer, unfortunately, is not very visible in the photo. For the smaller areas, I used pastel sticks (Faber Castell’s) or pastel pencils (Derwent’s). It was quite a simple painting today, but here is my March Hare!

Now that was a fun quick and easy painting! Good enough for me at the moment as I am still under recovery and not quite ready for an intense session. It’s wonderful going back to pastel sketches too for a change, especially as I have forgotten how stunning they come out, all velvety and vivid. I would also like to go back to developing more Alice in Wonderland themed artwork continuing where I left off. Loving how my kawaii March Hare turned out, I certainly look forward to that. Working on this piece has certainly gotten me inspired for more!