Saturday 6 December 2014

Special Request

A new friend has come to live in the Whimsical Woodland, this chubby little red fox kit.

As you know I love to draw and the most common advice you hear from successful artists is to make what you love. I love animals so for the most part that is what I draw. This week I have had a special request from a friend on Instagram to draw a baby red fox. 

I have had a problem with foxes since I was a child and when I first started this request I found it extremely hard and wanted to give up. I have spoken to you a lot already about using creativity to cope with chronic illness. To find a sense of purpose, distract yourself from and simply enjoy yourself, so I thought this week I could use this opportunity to talk to you about how others areas in which you can use art to heal and move on. 

You've all noticed that I absolutely love rabbits. I have had a pet rabbit for most of my life. When I was about 10 years old my rabbit Snowy, who happened to be the first pet rabbit I ever had, was taken by a fox. I got him from Santa the Christmas before I started kindergarten, I was 4. I was completely heartbroken when it happened and to this day I am still filled with sadness and anger each time I see a fox. This is unfortunate because they are everywhere at the moment, on just about every dress, t-shirt, handbag, mug and every other trinket you could imagine. More importantly they are an animal just as important as any other, so as an animal lover having such feelings towards any animal doesn't sit comfortably with me.  

A chubby little red fox has moved into the woodland, I
hope his mum, dad and siblings are close behind him.
It's safe to say that I have a problem with foxes but now that we have gotten the angry sads out of the way let us think about how I could take my own advice and draw through it even if it has nothing dealing with pain, fatigue or frustration. This year particularly, I have found that drawing animals I haven't drawn before (which aside form rabbits is most of them) stimulates my brain in a similar way to my brain training. So I decided to use this to work through these feelings I have and try to move on from this trauma I experienced so long ago. Let's face it, it is about time.

I sketched a lot of foxes in graphite, my favourite medium. After a while I started to see the arrangement of shapes that made up the fox. A series of triangles, set up in the right way made a great fox. I then started to focus on the colours, the golden shades of orange interspersed with black and white. Mr Fox really was shaping up as a dapper fellow and I began to see that there was a cute side, just. Their bright eyes and coy expressions really captured my attention and I started to think about where they would fit in in the Whimsical Woodland.

Art gets us through so many things. The process of art making helps us make sense of those wispy notions that swirl around our minds when we are quiet and pensive. Simply materialising these thoughts is even helping me change my attitude. I wouldn't say I was cured yet but it is safe to assume that more foxes will be moving in to live with the rabbits in the Whimsical Woodland.

4 comments:

  1. Hi!
    I'm sorry that at the begining it was so full of sad/angry feelings but seems like everytime happen for a reason because just by seeing this little fella I can see how it was draw carefully and you did a great job creating something that looks soo cute and lovely. My favorite are his ears and those awesome eyes that you capture!!

    I'm glad that this help you in a positive way! so I will be waiting to meet the rest of the family! :)

    Thank you for fulfilling my request so beautifuly!!

    mesKalina.


    pS: and what is the name of this chubby little fox?! :D

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  2. I am so glad that you like him. I think he looks like a Fred to me. What do you think +n-Ansii?

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  3. So proud, this must have been an easy thing to do! I hate foxes ( my mum used to have chickens! Which always get killed my the fox!) I also know this picture - it's drawn to absolute perfection! Have ever thought of becoming an illustrator for cards or book covers!?

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    1. Thank you Ceri, it was really hard but I love doing requests, I actually started doing them for friends before I stared this blog. I really want to start illustrating that is why I have started this blog to practice for writing a children's book in the future and possible opening an etsy shop for prints and cards. Thanks for your lovely feedback and I am sorry for your chickens. I experienced this growing up to.

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