Boxing

‘Boxing’ is my latest reduction print. I was inspired by Watership Down. Like a lot of kids who grew up in the 80s my parents thought Watership Down was a cute and cuddly cartoon about bunnies that would be suitable for little girls. How wrong they were.

This summer, I finally read the novel by Richard Adams. I wish I was brave enough to read it sooner. The rabbits have their own folk stories featuring their own prophets and legends. A bit like we do with King Arthur. Like the cartoon, it can be quite violent. It’s about as perilous and adventurous as a book like The Hobbit, or Lord of the Rings… but with bunnies.

This is a reduction linocut of two boxing hares. It’s something I have seen on a summers evening in the Bedfordshire countryside. Hares are magical!

We were lucky enough to visit West Cork in Ireland this summer and we saw a hare! We couldn’t tell at first if it was a rabbit or a hare until it started running. It turns out that Ireland have their own endemic sub species of a mountain hare (Lepus timidus hibernicus). They are special because their fur does not turn white in the winter.

Here in England, we have larger brown hares which were introduced by the Romans.

Unfortunately, hares have been in declined since the 70s because of intensive farming and increase in livestock densities. Their grassland habitat is shrinking.

These animals are Britain’s fastest land mammal. They are so beautiful and it is always a special moment when you see them in the wild.