Rabbits and Wildflowers

To celebrate Spring, we painted these wild rabbits! 

Over the years, this wary little rabbit, venturing out into a meadow of yummy treats, has become a favorite painting project! 

Whenever we paint these wild rabbits our young artists particularly enjoy painting the dandelion seed pods floating around while their rabbits are munching on goodies. 

These little fellows were painted with liquid tempera paint on lightweight, rough (not slick) poster board, 16 by 22 inches. 

We used a variety of painting "implements" for the wildflowers, such as round sponges and frayed cardboard tubes. We used round stiff brushes and plastic scrubbers for the dandelion seed pods. After all, an artist is not confined to brushes alone! 

We used Sharpies for the finishing touches, such as a bit of outlining and (of course) whiskers! 

In an earlier weblog post, I included an original poem about our painted dandelion rabbits. My hope was, and is, to inspire young artists to write something creative about their artwork or to select some of their own creative writing to illustrate with a painting or drawing.

Rabbits, Bunnies, and Hares - Oh My!

It's SPRING... 

and... we have a snowstorm happening here today. So we decided to PAINT spring and maybe the weather will follow. 

Our favorite "springy" subject is a hungry rabbit happily chomping on wild flowers in a sunny green meadow.

These wild bunnies were painted with tempera on 14" x 20" sheets of white poster board. We first sketched in the basic shape of our rabbit (no ears yet). Then we painted the background in a variety of spring-like colors, impressionist-style!

Next, we painted in the bunnies, adding the ears right over the background, leaving the whiskers and facial details until later.  

Now it was time to add the grass, wildflowers, and dandelion seedpods floating through the air!

When the paint was dry, we added the whiskers and facial details with paint or Sharpies.

For more dandelion bunnies, take a look at these Wild Rabbits and these Wild Rabbits and Wildflowers. Also, check out these Dandelion Bunnies to find a special poem about our adorable wild rabbits.

Wild Rabbits!

Rabbits are the perfect springtime painting subject!

These wild rabbits are busy munching on dandelions and peeking out of the tall grass for a quick look around.

The expressions on these rabbits' curious little faces are priceless!

We drew our basic rabbit shape, then mixed lots of lovely tints for the background. Then we painted our rabbit and added the facial details and whiskers. 

These large format tempera paintings were completed by adding grass, flowers, and dandelion seed pods floating away in the breeze.

My sample

More Wild Rabbits!

The Rabbit

Long listening ears

Wide watchful eyes

What is that he hears?

Alert for hungry spies!

Delicious grass to eat

Munching, filling tummy

Dandelions sweet

Buttercups so yummy!

No time to relax!

Must always be aware!

Enjoy those nature snacks

With the quickness of a hare!

This week our after school club and Thursday afternoon art class created even more wild rabbits! These are tempera paintings on heavy white paper, 12" x 18" or larger. I just love the unique expression on each rabbit's face (including the ears)!

The poem describes a hungry yet wary rabbit. Poetry is such an amazing art form - it can beautifully describe a painting! So together we plan to create a few more poems to accompany some of our future artwork!

Dandelion Rabbits!

Here is one of those spring time art projects that we just LOVE - our cute little Dandelion Rabbit! 

We have done this one in the past; you can find the original post  right here. 








We started by sketching the basic shape of the rabbit to the left or right in the composition. Then we painted various blue and green tints in the background surrounding the sketched rabbit.  






We then painted our rabbit, who has interrupted his delicious meal to take a quick look around.

Finally, we added our grasses, dandelions, buttercups, and other wildflowers; and we added a few dandelion seed pods floating around in the breeze.

Draw & Paint a Bunny!

Every year around this time we draw and paint BUNNIES! 

We have painted wild rabbits in fields of flowers and Easter Bunnies decorating eggs. 

You can draw and paint a bunny too! All that's needed are a few simple art supplies that you probably have at home.

We are posting several bunny projects to choose from. Just pick the one you like and we'll show you what to do.

Here is a fun little bunny for 5 to 7-year-olds (or so) to draw and paint themselves. They will need a piece of 9" x 12" sketching or drawing paper (ordinary white copy paper will work too), oil pastels (or crayons), and a set of watercolors. You can find step-by-step directions to make this little bunny right here.

Thank you Artventurous for this super-cute bunny art idea!






The fuzzy bunny project below was designed for kids 8 and up, but I think younger kiddos could try it too.

The bunny is first sketched lightly in pencil on sturdy white paper. Drawing paper would work best. Start by drawing the head shape first, leaving plenty of room for the long ears. Add the V-shaped nose, the ears, and the neck. Draw in the eyes on the sides of the head near the ears. Next, go over your sketch with water-based markers like Crayola brand markers, adding furry texture as you go. Don't color in the eyes yet! Now you will carefully paint the bunny along the marker lines with clear water. The marker turns into watercolor! Use a soft brush as you pull the delicate colors into the bunny's body shape. When it is dry, you can then use a Sharpie to color in the eyes and add details like curly little eye lashes and whiskers.

Want to dry a realistic rabbit? We found some great animal drawing tutorials to help you draw just about any kind of animal you like at wedrawanimals.com. 

Learn to draw this little rabbit right here (scroll down a bit to find the tutorial), or download a printable pdf of the step-by-step instructions.

Then paint or color it any way you wish!

Our thanks to wedrawanimals.com for this drawing tutorial.



Need more Easter art projects? Try our Easter Egg Art!