May Vacation Pastel - 4 of 5

This one… I originally tried the chicken several different ways, then settled on the straight forward position. I usually cover over (as completely as possible) the various changes of mind/heart that happen during the early exploration of the pastel, but this time I felt that leaving traces of the other positions would reveal the chicken’s emotional state.

I’ve read that foxes are cat software running on dog hardware. I get that. I have always loved foxes, and have an extensive digital archive of photos of them, to get postures, proportions, etc. None of those photos were available on the vacation - these are greatly simplified, and straight from my head/heart.

And… as usual with most of the pastels, I had no idea what it would be when I started drawing on the blank page with a pen, anyway. The shapes gradually emerge from the mess of lines - I just go with it. That included all but one or two of the foxes.

The heart/flame motif was also present in the scribbles. I like that this shows the same heart (life) beating in the breast of the chicken and the fox. Eating other creatures is complicated…

18 x 24 inches - Pastel on kraft paper.