It's Hip 2 B Square When You Are a Medieval Rabbit/Bunny/Hare/Leporid

Greetings you artsy people! (And yes, you just read the word "leporid" for the first and possibly last time today.) 

Today I have a medievalish make for you to help get your creative juices flowing for the Hip 2 B Square challenge (you still have time to enter your square-y projects through September 4!).

I always like to discuss the creative process with artists, so I thought I would tell you a little more about the thinking behind my featured piece--"Le Lièvre" (The Hare)--and how it was made. The FULL details-- including which famous medieval works inspired me in the design of this piece—are over on my blog here with more juicy photos and historical eye candy to get you in the mood. :)  Click and read!

But in front of you at this moment is the Cliff Notes version.

For the "square" theme, I chose this Rabbit Square stamp from Carmen's Veranda. I stamped the Rabbit Square on heavy ivory watercolor paper, and embossed it with detail gold so it would be WICKED SHINY. (Yes, I’m from Boston. Don’t judge.)

Then I painted it with water-soluble oil pastels in shades of green, blue, and gray, keeping the bunny buff-brown and "white."

To up the medievalish gambit, I stamped Lost Coast Designs’ most awesome and utterly ravishing Antique Text Border, and embossed and painted it too, then cut it out and mitered the corners around the center image.

The finished result looked like this:

BUT because the gold isn't really shiny enough for my liking in the photo above, here's another where you can really see it catch the light. AHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhh...wicked shiny, yeah.

Remember to check out the Muse of Mixed Media blog for deets on the famous medieval tapestries and manuscripts and such that formed the creative bedrock from which my little Lievre was sprung.  ;)

Leave me some love in the comments (here or over there) and I will love you back! xo