New Paintings & Greeting Cards

Hello All and Happy New Year!
I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. I took some time off, stayed in and did a lot of meditating, some yoga, and some inward reflection so that I can start the new year with renewed energy and a stronger focus on my art.

Since I have been focusing a lot of my artwork on using inks. I came up with a small series of paintings utilizing images of foxes on aquaboard and colored inks. The results are what appear to be watercolors on paper, but are much more durable and longer lasting than watercolors or a work on paper would be.

Back when I started working on these pieces, I had been chased with images of foxes. Some in my dreams, others just popping up randomly in books, or tv programs.
I had a fondness for foxes when I was younger, so I thought the fox would be a good subject to explore again.

For my research I examined different kinds of foxes and how they relate to the natural world and in mythology and spiritual lore.

The first painting I did was the Autumn Fox. This is represented by the Red Fox. Autumn in Celtic lore was considered the time when the line between the living world and the otherworld was the thinnest. People were better able to commune with those who had crossed over to the otherworld at this time. The fox because of it's illusive nature, is often associated with magic, and supernatural abilities. It's most active times are during dawn and dusk, the "in-between-times", and therefore, a natural emissary representing the borderlands between this and the otherworld.

The next painting was Winter Fox. This painting is represented by the Arctic Fox, who is the master of camouflage. In the warmer months, the Arctic fox comes in a range of colors from chocolate brown to charcoal black. As winter approaches, it sheds its dark fur for a thick white coat. The fox (no matter which species) is a master of camouflage, being able to vanish, practically right before your eyes. The Arctic fox is the master of invisibility, being able to disappear right into a snow bank.

The third painting I did was of the Spring Fox. I chose the Gray Fox to represent spring. I have always held the Gray Fox to be one of my favorites. It is a very quiet, shy creature. It is the only fox that can climb trees. Here I drew a fox in the branches of a flowering cherry tree. In spiritual lore, the fox is represented by the World card in the tarot deck. The fox represents that the world is growing and shaping itself into new beneficial patterns. Spring is the time of year where the potential for all things begins to manifest. The gray fox standing on a tree branch in spring bloom, seemed like the perfect image to represent that.

Lastly, the Summer Fox. Represented here by the swift fox. It is one of the smaller species of fox. It occupies the drier regions of North America. There is another fox called a kit fox, which some argue might be just a smaller breed of swift fox. They look nearly identical, with some slight variations in ear size and body weight. Summer is a time of heat and activity. The legs of the fox are adapted for running. It requires a great amout of stamina, and fox can trot along for a long time without appearing exhausted. The swift fox, by name, seems to embody this idea of energy very well. Also, the swift and the kit foxes have very large ears. They are designed to help rid the body of excess heat, another adaption to address the hot months of summer. This painting depicts a swift fox, trotting along in a field.

January & February is usually devoted to my meditation stroke paintings. I will be discussing the process and posting new stroke paintings in the next couple entries to keep an eye out for those. In addition to the stroke paintings I will be continuing to develop work on my series From Beyond the Ninth Wave.

It should be an exciting year!