Musings of an unhinged mind.

Now the next face is complete.....

Step 4 Final

This Red Fox has the attitude that I wanted for this portrait...wary, listening, very alert.

The first two portraits together....

These two portraits were of the same fox that I photographed a few years ago. He was at an animal rehabilitation clinic recovering from being hit by a car. Because of his injuries, one of his back legs was removed by the veteranarian that owns the clinic. These photos were taken just a few days before he was to be released back into the wild.

He occupied an enclosed sunporch and had a large dog carrier as his "den". Just as I slipped through the sliding glass doors to visit him, the vet said "watch him, he bites". So armed with this knowledge, I approached his den. He wasn't exactly thrilled to see me.

The look on his face was hostile, so I just stood silently, about 4 feet from him and didn't look directly at him except for quick glances occasionally. Now and then I would whisper to him. After about 10 minutes or so, he started to relax and the hostile look left his eyes. He was still very alert, but I knew I wasn't in any danger of being bitten.

Then I started taking photos....the results are above.

Oh, he is getting along just fine in the wild, even with a missing leg.

More soon!

Hi, I'm back!

And the next face is starting to appear.....very aware of what's going on around him.

Foxes are so very alert, and that's the look I am after here.

Fox Commission...Step 4

In doing scratchboards, it's most important to wash your hands so no skin oil transfers to the surface. It cannot be erased. My fingernails are clipped to nothing and I wear no rings or watch. It's so easy to damage the black surface, and over the years it's seems second nature to be aware of how I work on the surface, careful not to scratch it.

More progress coming soon!

The scratching is mostly done on the large eyed portrait. Some adjustments will be made when the other portraits are put in.

Adding color will bring out more of the areas in shadow and help define the direction of the light.

After all the portraits are done, the red fox coloration of the Oklahoma area, where this commission piece is going, will be added in layer after layer with watercolor. Note of explanation here....the red foxes in the desert area of Eastern Oregon where I currently live have adapted to this arid land with a coat color that is very golden. This is common in other desert areas too.

I find this is true of many species of birds and mammals, this variation in color phases. Something more to pay attention to when doing wildlife portraits.

I'll be back in a few days with the start of the next portrait!

Starting at the top with the large set of eyes, the strokes are evenly put down and pretty light. They are meant to establish the direction of the fur. Generally with a portrait, I start around the eyes first....if the eyes aren't right then nothing about the portrait is going to work.

The fur is stroked from the base of the hair to the tip, paying close attention to the direction it grows and how it lies on the contours of the animal.

This is the first layer of strokes.....another layer will add depth and lighten some of the fur.

A closeup look at the eye reveals the cat-like pupils of a fox. Note how the top of the pupil is tilted slightly towards the middle of the forehead. The second layer of strokes have been layed down around the eye.

The wide eyed, alert look is there that I wanted for an expressive portrait. The second layer of scratching is put down a bit looser and in slightly different directions than the first layer. Note the fur is much shorter below the eyes and towards the nose. It gets longer and somewhat coarser as it moves up the forehead and out towards the cheeks.

The image is scratched lighter than what I want the final piece to be....adding color to it will darken it back down.

Back soon with more!

The transfer onto the scratchboard surface is complete and if you look closely in the lower right area, you can see that I repositioned that portrait a little further to the left. With an art gum eraser that has been cut with an exacto knife to expose a fresh edge, I carefully erased.

Any trace of that move will disappear when the portrait is finished and sprayed with the fixative.

Step Two

The marks denote color changes in the fur and, of course, important landmarks like eyes and nose. Other marks are just reminders to me to pay attention to a particular detail. No whiskers are marked at this time. Because foxes have black whiskers these must be painted on after the portraits are finished. A tedious and difficult undertaking that I will explain later.

And now I will leave the piece for the rest of the day and come back to it tomorrow with fresh eyes. Once the scratching begins, there is no going back!

Step 3 soon to follow!

With excitement, I'm starting a new commission piece!

This one is of the Red Fox and will involve 3 portraits along with large eyes across the top of the piece. It's a similar format that was used in my piece titled "Bobcat Study".

Scratchboard Etching is a process not very well known, but the results, especially for wildlife are stunning, so I thought it would be entertaining for you if I posted progress photos with some explanations of how it's done and a little bit about my subjects.

This piece is 18x24" and the cutting of the scratchboard is an alarming event all by itself. I use Ampersand's Claybord Scratchboards and sadly I have not been able to find them in this size. So I use my scroll saw...every other type of saw I have tried chips the board surface....and it takes strong nerves and a very steady hand to get that scroll saw to cut a straight line. Sort of like herding rabbits down the road with a stick.

Scratchboards are a product similar to thin masonite with a white kaolin clay layer on it, then a sprayed coating of black india ink. A sharp tool is used to scratch through the black layer into the white layer underneath. Color is added later....I use layers of watercolor.

This first photo shows the layout stage after choosing the poses I want and turning them into line drawings. With the large eyes at the top, the 3 portrait pieces must be sized and arranged carefully so as to not overpower the eyes, but not get lost either.

Step 1

This step is purposefully done in a very light pencil as it will have to be traced over with a darker pencil (so I can tell where I've been) with white transfer paper underneath. Working directly on the black surface damages it with erasing, so hence the transfer.

By now I can hardly wait to get scratching!

Step 2 will be coming up soon!