"The Watcher" Print

"The Watcher"

5x7 print

This painting was done in acrylic on a 9x12 inch canvas board.

I created this painting for the the February 2026 edition of my monthly print club. Because I live in the northern part of the United States, February is still very cold and snowy. I wanted to create something that felt true to this season so I drew inspiration from the snow. For the wildlife I wanted to paint something that would make people happy and ended up landing on a rabbit.

The process of this painting was one I very much enjoyed. I had a great reference photo to work from, however, the lighting was not what I was looking for. In my reference photo the rabbit and snow were in the shade with no direct sunlight at all. I looked around in my folder of references hoping to find inspiration elsewhere and still kept coming back to this specific rabbit. I decided to do something I typically struggle with as an artist - creating lighting. I imagined this rabbit back lit with sun beams shining on the snow around it. And that is exactly what I was able to create!