The Red Fox and the Hare

Recently I prepared 3 end-of-winter hare hides as canvas for painting. Two of them have been dry and ready to display whatever comes to my fancy that day.

As always, I looked for a while to the shapes and colours on the hide. As I have written previously, I like to “hear” the story the hide would suggest. I always find inspiration in that process, and this time it was not different.

Here is what I saw:

Perhaps to the casual viewer, there is nothing there other than blots of different colours.

Well, how about now? I painted two ears on that “blot” as I saw the face of a red fox. This fox has a large brown birthmark over its left eye....!

So, this painting was going to be about a red fox.

… I am self-taught in my artwork, as I have been in many things I have done in life. In this case, I paint with a letter opener instead of a painting knife. I suppose one can call it a “painting spear head” as it is indeed shaped as such.  I use oil and acrylic (sometimes) and mostly mix the pain on the hide itself. It is called Impasto and I love the surprises that happen as one mixes the paint on the canvas itself. I often have to adapt the shape and colour of what I had in mind to paint to the consistency and shades of the colours I get from such a mixing. Of course a few turquoise stones were added to give a flavor of the American Southwest. 

Ok, so I painted the red fox but there was no story on this canvas. A few minutes of imagining what else can be there and I decided to make the red fox a female and have her cub next to her:

As I shaped the fox cub, I decided to have it in a conversation with mama. Here is the detail of that moment:

I was pleased with that interaction between cub and mama. The details are vivid enough to make the scenery active and dynamic.

… As this painting is drying so I can frame it, I am now wondering what will happen upon the next hare hide waiting on my easel…!

March 29, 2019

© Vahé A. Kazandjian, 2019