Tan Lines

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Moongazer

Image: Maggie Vandewalle.


See also the previous posts:
• The Moon and the Hare
• Moon Hare
• Moon-Struck
• Hare and Moon
• In the Light of the Moon
• Hare Moon
• The Hare on the Moon

Bel Homme

Image: Jonathan Glass by Taylor Miller for BuzzFeed's "12 Dudes Of Xmas."

The Winter King

Image: Hannah Willow.

Mon Bel Amie

Image: The Leveret (May 2015).

Afoot

Image: Maggie Bruce's photograph of hares running in a field in East Yorkshire was Highly Commended in The Telegraph newspaper's annual Mammal Photographer of the Year 2014 competition.

The Art of Richard Haines

[Richard Haines'] sensitive renderings of his subjects, whether they are men on the street, friends, or fashion models, uncover a deeply sentimental treatment. It is his fascination with the people behind the styles that informs his every stroke, propelling his work beyond mere sketches into the world where art and fashion intersect. His work straddles the border between fashion illustration and fine art.

– Source

To view more of Richard Haines' artwork
and/or to purchase prints, click here.

Related Off-site Links:
What I Saw Today: The Blogsite of Richard Haines
Richard Haines: Portrait of an Artist – Julien Sauvalle (Out, September 8, 2015).
Back to the Drawing Board: An Interview with Illustrator Richard Haines – Shannon Elinor Smith (Opening Ceremony, October 9, 2013).

See also the previous posts:
• The Art of John MacConnell
• The Art of Leo Rydell Jost
• The Art of Jim Ferringer
• The Art of Juliusz Lewandowski
• The Art of Felix d'Eon
• The Art of Herbert List
• The Art of Joe Ziolkowski

Rocking Hare

Image: The Leveret.

Trio

See also the previous posts:
• Boys Will Be Boys III
• Dancing Hares

Image: Subjects and photographer unknown.

Hare Décor XVIII

Image: The Leveret.

Tan Lines

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Song in Autumn

By Djuna Barnes

The wind comes down the creeping night
And you, my love, are hid within the green
Long grasses; and the dusk steals up between
Each leaf, as though the shadow quick with fright
The startled hare leaps up and out of sight

The hedges whisper in their loaded boughs
Where warm birds slumber, pressing wing to wing,
All pulsing faintly, like a muted string
Above us where we weary of our vows –
And hidden underground the soft moles drowse.


Words: Djuna Barnes (first published in Vanity Fair, September 1923 as "Love Song in Autumn").
Image: "Brown Hare Silhouette" by Elliot Hook.

Bel Homme

Image: Subject and photographer unknown.

Capturing Images

I have sat in cold fields where the earth is iron hard and watched the day dawn and the hares wake, emerging stiffened by cold sleeping to stretch and yawn out small steaming puffs of hare’s breath into late winter mornings before running across frost trimmed grasses to warm cold muscles. These moments have been some of the most beautiful in my life.

I have seen hares run from their forms across green fields in late evening sun slanted light to leap honey coloured Cotswold stone walls.

I have seen hares on Derbyshire hillsides in twilight and one cross a road, loping like a long legged mythical creature, seeming to be the size of a small deer.

All this helps while capturing images in the mind’s eye.

– Jackie Morris
(writing about the illustrations
in her book, Song of the Golden Hare)

Images: Jackie Morris.

Casey Conway: An Out and Proud Gay Indigenous Man

By Drew Sheldrick

Note: This article was first published October 23, 2015 by National Indigenous TV (NITV), an initiative of SBS Australia. It's re-posting on The Leveret is accompanied by images from Laura House's Daily Mail article "Buns of (Blue) Steel: Indigenous Model Casey Conway Poses Up a Storm in New Campaign for Male Swimwear Designed to Combat 'Saggy Man Bum'."


Australian sport hasn't proven itself to be a bastion of racial or social harmony, especially of late. So one can only imagine the anxiety Casey Conway felt moving from Central Queensland to Sydney to play in the National Rugby League (NRL) straight out of high school.

Not only was he a small-town Aboriginal teen thrust into the spotlight in a new city, but he was leading what he calls a "double life", exploring his sexual identity in Sydney’s gay scene while keeping his relationships private from his teammates.

A Barada man, Conway grew up one of five boys in the small town of Bluff, a couple of hours west of Rockhampton. He played football from the age of six and was educated at St Brendan's College in Yeppoon – a boarding school with a specialised rugby league program well-known for producing potential NRL players. It was here he was scouted for his big break with the Sydney Roosters.

Joining the team's Jersey Flegg outfit (now known as the NRL's National Youth Competition/Holden Cup) in 2003, he was still unsure about his sexuality, before eventually admitting to club officials that he was gay.

"I was up-and-coming, so they were cautious about going about it the right way," he explained.

"They wanted to make sure I was looking after myself and accessing the support that I needed, and they were concerned about the club's image."

Despite discussing his sexuality with club management, Conway said he remained uncomfortable about the prospect of revealing he was gay to his teammates as he struggled to reconcile his rural upbringing with his new life in Sydney.

"I was out-and-about on the [gay] scene and meeting people. I was doing that undercover and it finally came to a point where I had to start accepting it. I wanted more than what I was having," he said.

If Conway was expecting a less rigid environment in which to express himself outside the world of football, he soon discovered he’d have to navigate other forms of ignorance from within the gay community.

"There was a lot of casual racism. People would say things like, 'You're hot for an Aboriginal guy' or 'I've never been with a black guy'. I'd think, 'You know that’s not a compliment?'."

Traversing worlds as a member of both racial and sexual minorities proved to be both a minefield and a unique insight into the discrimination faced by both communities.

When Anthony Mundine famously claimed that homosexuality and Aboriginal culture didn't mix, following an episode of the ABC's Redfern Now program in 2013, Conway was aghast at the thought of another Aboriginal former NRL player using his platform to preach intolerance.

"I don't think [his comments] were reflective of the Aboriginal community at all. For someone like him in a position of influence in the Aboriginal community, it was really disappointing," he said.

Now a full-time youth development coordinator for a small non-for-profit on Queensland’s Gold Coast, Conway said he sees the direct impact of those type of comments on young people coming to terms with their sexuality.

"There are young people out there hearing comments like that and they're questioning themselves. I know what it was like to be in the country and think, 'Oh shit, I think I'm gay'. At that time there wasn't really a big push in the media for equality," he said.

"I've worked with kids who are homeless because they've been kicked out of home when they came out [as gay]. They're suffering not only because they don't have a home, but because of their mental health and a raft of other issues."

Despite comments like Mundine's, Conway said he's seen a shift in the attitudes of professional athletes, even though few have chosen to reveal they’re gay themselves.

"There's not too many who have come forward, but I definitely think there's been a change. There are lots of different sporting identities, clubs and codes that are saying, 'we're for equality'. I think that’s really great. It's really positive."

Conway came out to his former teammates after he left the Sydney Roosters in 2005 – all of whom, he said, were completely supportive.

After a brief stint in the fitness industry, he became the face of Australian swimwear and underwear brand, aussieBum, breaking new ground as an Aboriginal male model on the international stage.

"It was fun, but at times a little bit overwhelming. The brand was really growing at that time. I was on giant billboards in Los Angeles and on the side of buses in London," he said.

Now the face (and body) of the Sluggers swimwear brand's summer campaign, Conway still intends to focus on his youth work after more than six years helping young people to reengage with school, employment and the community.

"Modeling is a side thing. I love my work and I’m not willing to let go of it at the moment," he said.

"I'm trying to use my more public profile as a platform to get my views out, but I also think young people appreciate that I’m now just an everyday type of guy, rather than a singer or an athlete. It helps to get those messages across."

All is Enchanted

Image: "And She Saw in His Eyes That All Was Enchanted Between Earth and Sky" by Karen Davis.

Mon Bel Amie

Image: The Leveret.

Stone Arch

Image: "Stone Arch" (limestone, 1995) by Swiss sculptor René Küng (b. 1934). I see a hare, don't you?

Bel Homme

Images: Australian rugby league player Johnathan Thurston, photographed by Pedro Virgil.

Related off-site Links:
Johnathan Thurston Goes Naked for a Cause – The Courier Mail (March 12, 2008).
Johnathan Thurston "the Greatest Player We've Seen" – Jon Healy (ABC News, October 4, 2015).
Johnathan Thurston Opens Up on His Crowning Glory – Adrian Proszenko (Stuff, October 5, 2015).

Meadow Hare

Image: Jola Król.

Pan, Moonlight and Magnolias

Image: "Pan, Moonlight and Magnolias" by Todd Yeager (9"x12", ink and charcoal).

Hares in Love

Image: The Leveret

Bel Homme

Image: Ashley Parker Angel.

Surreal

Notes Ellen Jewett of her "natural history surrealist" sculptures:

Each sculpture is handmade and painted with no more tools than fingers and a paint brush. By virtue of this primal process, each creation is completely unique and produced in a fluid and intuitive manner. The process begins with a handmade metal armature over which light weight clay is sculpted. The painting is executed with acrylic, mineral and oil pigments and the embedded eyes are glass. When complete the whole piece is glazed to intensify colour and strength. With inspiration derived from animal physiology and a love of the fantastic, grotesque and absurd, each sculpture is unique and personable. The detailed craftsmanship is rich and thoughtful and never cast molded or replicated. Despite appearances these sculptures ship extremely well, I ship internationally on a weekly basis.


To visit Ellen Jewett's website and see more of her stunningly surreal sculptures and prints, click here.

Boys of Summer

Hare Décor XVII

Poseidon

See also the previous posts:
• Merman
• Merman II
• Merman III
• Merman IV
• Merman V
• Merman VI
• A Merman Named Eric

Image: "Poseidon" by James Lyons.