So, today I went out to my garden to see if there were any peas to pick. Someone had left the gate open, and there was a bunny inside. So, I closed the gate and went back in for my camera. These are the pictures I took before I let the bunny out again. I think I need to weed the garden.
Yes, I let him go when I was done. Maybe the fright will teach him to stay out of my garden.
Karen B. Jones - Illustrator 
Could this be a hare?
Actually, I don’t know. We always called them rabbits, but I suppose they could be hares. I don’t know much about the species. They’re the sort of rabbit-like animal that seems to be the normal variety in this area. I’m living in Olathe, KS. That’s in the Southwest corner of the Kansas City Metro Area.
Here’s what I know about them.
They like to nest under the tall ornamental grass in our yeard. They make a shallow depression and line it with fur and dry grass. Definitely not a hole or tunnel.
I don’t know if the babies are born eyes-closed and hairless or not. I have found furred, eyes-open babies, however.
I’ve never noticed more than one or two in the yard at once, though they’re good at blending in so that may not be a reliable observation.
They seem to run by hopping two-footed, but one of the pictures I took (which I didn’t post because it was blurry) clearly shows the back legs moving independently when moving slower, so they can walk.
I think they’re more grey in the winter. They don’t turn white in winter, but that’s probably because it isn’t very snowy here. White would stand out too much.
Here’s the image of it walking.
Of course, I also saw it hopping.
You are very observant! Great photos by the way. I don’t know the difference, but the ones I see in my ‘hood (Fort Collins, in northern Colorado) are rounder in the face, have smaller eyes, shorter legs, and are not as muscular as yours. I see more fox than rabbits though, including their scat!
I saw a fox around here once and my husband’s seen one a few times. And there’s a hawk in the neighborhood. So, there are things that eat our rabbits/hares around here. But I see the prey more often than the predator.
Funny, I see so many foxes, but also so many cats. I suppose cats are more fierce than I thought! We have a fairly open yard and as the only family without a pet on the block we attract those looking to gain territory! I’ll be looking for your next IF piece soon!
I’m not sure if I’ll do one this week. The theme is sight, and I do have some ideas. But my youngest broke the stylus for my graphic tablet last night. (So annoyed with her, but she didn’t do it on purpose). So, I won’t be drawing digitally until I get my replacement, which will delay everything I’m working on.
I’ve been doing a lot of politics lately. (That’s what happens when I watch Rachel Maddow too much.) I think I should do some more kid’s stuff next.
So sorry! I am interested in getting such an apparatus, but my pencil, scanner and AI will have to do!
Graphic tablets are wonderful! I don’t know how I got along without mine. I’m doing most of my work 100% digitally now, thanks to it. Working digitally means you can work in layers, erase as many times as you need to, and zoom in and out at will. I love it! 🙂
What apps does one work with, or do they come with the tablet?
I use both Autodesk Sketchbook Pro and Adobe Photoshop CS5. They don’t come with the tablet.
However, I think it did come with a limited version of Sketchbook as a trial.
If you can’t afford Photoshop CS6 (the very latest one) I’d recommend purchasing Adobe Photoshop Elements for around a hundred bucks. If you don’t need to use the path tools for vectors and some of the other fancy stuff that Photoshop has, then Elements should work for you.
I’d recommend buying the full version of Sketchbook Pro, though. Thats, what? $100? $150? Something like that.
The tablet I have is the Wacom intuos4. And, although my daughter did break the stylus, it wasn’t due to it being fragile or anything like that. She would have broken any stylus with what she did. There are cheaper tablets than my model, but even the cheap ones (if they’re decent at all) are all pretty expensive. Mine was around $800. But so worth it.
Thanks for the low-down. I haven’t decided on anything so this will help me tremendously. I would write more, but it’s Friday eve, I’ve just had my one beer for the week and I am ready to kick back and watch a movie! I really appreciate all the info, and hope we maintain our online ‘friendship’. I belong to scbwi, and our chapter doesn’t have many active illustrators so I have no one to bounce ideas off of! No, that doesn’t mean I want to stalk you! In any case, have a lovely weekend! – Julie
Have you visited the MO/KAN SCBWI Illustrator’s Critique Blog yet? It’s here: http://illustratorsforkids.wordpress.com They’ll accept anyone who’s an SCBWI member, not just MO/KAN people. If you join, you can post your stuff for critique. There are instructions on the right sidebar.
I was told by someone (was it John Hare? I don’t remember.) that the Illustrator part is a relatively new addition to the group. It apparently used to be just SCBW. So, sometimes the Illustrator part is a little underrepresented. How is the annual conference in your area? Do they have presentations for illustrators, or mostly just writers? Ours is a little sparse, but still manages to fill the day with mostly illustrator-relevant stuff. There was only one block in the day when none of the presentation were of much use to illustrators, but I was pretty satisfied with it. I wish they’d had someone from Hallmark Cards, though, since that is local.
My group also has a picture book study group that meets, I think, once a month. But I can’t attend because it’s clear across town usually and held in the evening. I’m night-blind and have been instructed by my eye doctor to avoid driving at night whenever possible. So, I don’t go to that. All the other artists in the group seem pretty nice.
They also have smaller seminars two or three times a year covering marketing, publishing, speeches by famous authors, etc. About half of those seem relevant to the artist side of the group.
I just found a local artists group for my city (not SCBWI) that I’m going to check out next week. Perhaps you can check your state arts council website to see if there’s artist’s groups in your area that you could join.
I only joined scbwi last year and as of yet have not attended any conferences. There will be one in the fall in Colorado Springs (still waiting to hear if I won the poster contest so I can attend for free *fingers crossed*). I just found a local licensing group, but they meet in Denver, so I won’t be able to catch up with them too often. I will definitely check out the website you mentioned – sounds right up my alley. I really like the idea of a picture book study group too and will bring that up at the next local Schmooze on Monday. I am also trying to get our scbwi chapter to start a fb group page where we can more readily share all kinds of info, and believe it or not I can’t get them to make the decision – it’s been 2 mths! I started one anyway (gotta show some incentive!) which I can delete if they don’t want it (no need to make enemies). And I have a PB writing critique group started with our first official mtg in 2 weeks. Only one other who also illustrates; hopefully it will prove beneficial. My biggest help, a life-focus changer is being part of Julie Hedlund’s 12x12in12 picture book challenge: http://www.juliehedlund.com/12-x-12/. It is closed for the year, but if you also write you can add your name to the contact list for next year. Thanks again for all the tips – now for my IF sketch!