Image of the Week: Snowshoe Hare Rescues the Sun
© Durga Yael Bernhard
This painting is from my illustrated picture book How Snowshoe Hare Rescued the Sun (Holiday House, 1993), a retelling of a Siberian folktale in which the winter sun disappears and is rescued. Stolen from the sky by greedy demons, the sun has been spirited away in an underground cave, leaving the animals of the tundra to stumble about in darkness. A great council is held, in which the swiftest animal, the Arctic wolf, is sent to rescue the sun; followed by the strongest animal, the polar bear. Both Wolf and Bear fail to rescue the Sun, causing a great argument among the animals of the land, birds of the air, and beasts of the sea – until tiny Lemming nominates humble, silent Snowshoe Hare. With his wide paws for leaping across deep snow, Snowshoe Hare sets off at once. Quickly he finds the Sun, and moving quietly among the sleeping, snoring demons, kicks the ball of light out of the cave with his strong hind legs. In the climactic scene shown above, Snowshoe Hare races after the sun across the tundra with the demons in hot pursuit.
This was one of the first children's books I illustrated, and I loved it for its stark simplicity. It was an opportunity to incorporate my studies of Inuit art into my work. I had fallen in love with the bold, naive expression of the Arctic tribes on both sides of the Bering Straits. On the Siberian side were innovative clothing and pouches decorated with everything from fish skins to fungi. On the Alaskan side were the charming finger puppets used for storytelling through the long winter months. With their wild hair, mask-like faces and exaggerated grins, these finger puppets became the inspiration for my demons.
Like the Arctic landscape, my illustrations were simple, stark, and sparsely detailed. I began by creating backgrounds of two layers of dilute acrylics, applied with a sponge to create transparent veils of color. Each spread received this treatment, with varied blends of sponge-painted colors. Subtle as these background textures may appear in these photos, they created an engaging ground against which the characters contrast.
This typical tale of the far North tells how humility and determination triumph over selfishness and greed. By the end of the book, the Sun has been restored to its rightful place in the sky, and spring immediately comes to the tundra.
And the animals of the land, birds of the air, and beasts of the sea all praise the brave Snowshoe Hare for rescuing the Sun.
A good week to all!
D Yael Bernhard