Showing posts with label rhymes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rhymes. Show all posts

Sunday, September 07, 2008

3 Rhymes for a Rabbit


# 1

Out in the garden one fine day,
A little brown rabbit came out to play,
She wanted to do something unique and swell,
So this little rabbit tried hatching a shell!
But all in all.... it didn't go too well!!!





#2

It started as a stick of wood...
A sharpened knife did carve it good...
Appeared a rabbit... as it should
That hopped away as quick as it could.





...I also want to include a little tribute to Henry Gibson, American actor and songwriter... someone I loved from Rowan and Martin's "Laugh-In" where he played "the poet" and always did a little ditty where he would walk on stage, clasp his hands, bow, somberly tell a silly poem, bow again and leave without cracking a smile....

He did one about a "Robin" that for some reason has always stuck with me....
I decided to use it for my rabbit...



#3

"The Rabbit"

I saw a little Rabbit go Hop, Hop, Hop,
I said, little Rabbit, "Won't you Stop, Stop, Stop"....

...but he Wouldn't.





Back a couple lifetimes ago, I carved this little rabbit from a 2" x 2" x 4" piece of pine scrap. It was left over from lumber we were using to make simple square railings for a staircase banister in my first house.

To me it seemed precious ... free materials to create with... I used a hunting knife, as it was the only tool of that sort that I had at the time... it had a nice curve at it's tip... and kept a keen edge...

...so as shavings and sawdust fell away... this little rabbit decided to stay...





She is small and smooth... and feels good in a cupped hand... sort of like a worry stone... maybe I should have called her a "Worry Rabbit".

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

The Little Red Fox





Sly... Shy... Cunning...

Dusk to dawn goes Hunting...

During the day, sleeps under a root...

If the farmers catch him.... Red might get the Boot!






Fox and Geese quilt patterns ... Fables... Fairy tales.... and Nursery Rhymes all recognize the nature of this little creature... The Fox and the Grapes... the whiskered gentleman that taunted Jemima Puddle-Duck...

Brier Fox... Old Reynard... characters familiar from childhood stories...


The classic image of a fox running away with his large bushy tail outstretched behind him... with a chicken in his mouth is emblazoned in our mind... Only doing what a little fellow who lives in the woods has to do... Go out and search for his supper...

Most of the time though we observe them hunting in the field for mice ... slipping silently along the edge of the trees bordering the field...



Once as we watched out an east window at dusk... two young foxes came out and played in the grass with a charred stick from our firepit... chasing each other round and round... wrestling for it... hiding in the grass... pouncing... stealing it back and forth... guarding it...
....watching them was no different than watching two dogs at play... the instinct was the same... the enjoyment too... for them and us...


The Red Fox, Vulpes vulpes, 35-40" long, including long bushy tail with white tip... small, doglike. Rusty reddish above; white underparts, chin, throat. Prominent pointy ears. Back of ear, lower legs and feet, black... Very adaptable to most habitats and foods... Omnivorous, eats whatever is available...

One of the most widespread of all mammals.


approx. 4" x 4" watercolor on heavy sketchbook paper... inspired by a nursery rhyme illustration