Back to Basics: The Birds and the...Bunnies?

Zoe approving (sort of) of this post.

Obviously, we love bunnies at our house. Also cats. But another thing we can't get enough of is birds. An ideal summer day at our house includes a fair amount of time spent outside in a chair or on a blanket with binoculars nearby and at the ready. We have a small city park by our house that helps us to attract all kinds of songbirds, woodpeckers, and raptors to our tiny yard. And we love it.

So, it stands to reason that we also adore Birdchick's blog. On her wildly popular blog, she writes about birds, bees, and her bunny, Cinnamon (and the occasional martini!). Cinnamon has since developed her own Disapproving Rabbits blog and some totally awesome disapproving rabbit merchandise.

(In fact, I'm wearing one of my Disapproving Rabbit t-shirts as I write this. Yes, I have more than one. Zoe was so excited about it that she bit a hole in the one I'm wearing the first day I had it on!)

Go to Birdchick now and get your own!! C'mon. You know you want it.

This daily dose of disapproval entertained us immensely, so when Birdchick (a.k.a. Sharon Stiteler) asked for photographic submissions of "your own disapproving rabbits," we and Zoe answered the call. Before we knew it, our Zoe was being featured in Sharon and Cinnamon's book, Disapproving Rabbits. We received an autographed copy in the mail for our part. (That was a thrilling day!)

We felt really happy for Sharon and for the whole of the world's bunny population-- "We're finally getting the attention we deserve!" shouted Zoe when the book came in the mail and I held it up so she could see her picture. She followed up that sentiment by whispering in my ear with an idea to paint a portrait of Cinnamon to send Sharon and her husband, Bill. We only hoped Cinnamon would approve:

Thanks, Zoe. That was a good idea.

Sharon sweetly featured the above Cinnamon portrait on her website a couple of times. It still shows up occasionally in various pictures on her blog.

Then, a couple of weeks ago, I got an email from someone named Carly who had seen that portrait of Cinnamon from a year or so ago, and she told me that ever since then, she and her husband, Art, had wanted to have a portrait of their bunnies done. Carly and Art are talented artists, too, among many other things. (See Carly's website here, and her etsy store here. See Art's etsy store here).

I always feel honored when I'm given an opportunity to paint for other artists. Zoe and I set to work on a portrait of Derby and Petunia straight away. The result is was mailed out this past week:

Petunia (left) and Derby (right).

My thanks to the bunnies of the world for being so delightful and for bringing so many wonderful new people into my life. :)