This piece started with a forest path I used to walk every day when I lived in Oregon. Over the years that walk stayed with me and grew from a memory into something more like myth. A long time ago I sketched a small rabbit and a jackalope, an illustration that now lives with a collector, and their story never really left me. It was waiting for a moment big enough to hold it. The Elemental Verses exhibition at Poetic Tiger became that moment, and I painted this piece exclusively for the show.

I worked in an old-world French, Art Nouveau-inspired style, blending realism with ornament. I wanted the painted frame to spill into the forest and the forest to spill back into the frame, so the two never quite settle into separate worlds. If you look closely you will find quiet symbols throughout, rabbits, birds and bees, flowers, and a green snake, each one speaking softly of creation, hope, and the gentle rhythms of life.