The Fox, the Cock, and the Dog

The Fox, the Cock, and the Dog Illustration
This image is based on the Aesop's fable of the same name. I played around with several compositions and decided to go with this version because it shows a moment that involves all three characters.

The Aesop's Fable:

The Fox, the Cock and the Dog One moonlight night a Fox was prowling about a farmer's hen-coop, and saw a Cock roosting high up beyond his reach. "Good news, good news!" he cried. "Why, what is that?" said the Cock. "King Lion has declared a universal truce. No beast may hurt a bird henceforth, but all shall dwell together in brotherly friendship." "Why, that is good news," said the Cock; "and there I see some one coming, with whom we can share the good tidings." And so saying he craned his neck forward and looked afar off. "What is it you see?" said the Fox. "It is only my master's Dog that is coming towards us. What, going so soon?" he continued, as the Fox began to turn away as soon as he had heard the news. "Will you not stop and congratulate the Dog on the reign of universal peace?" "I would gladly do so," said the Fox, "but I fear he may not have heard of King Lion's decree." 

Cunning often outwits itself.

My Composition
I used the composition to create a sense of tension and threat, but the textures and the fox and rooster's expressions should offset that with playfulness. The viewer's eyes progressively move through the image as the story unfolds. The fox arrives first in the narrative and he appears here with the most vibrant chroma (color) and the most dynamic shaping/intentional distortion. The rooster who is pinned in by the fox and sits within the image at an active angle takes second precedence as it leads our eyes to the threatening though most subtle creature in the composition the dog.

Catfish Piece Inbetween Stage

I'm Here Now

I got a chance to work on my catfish piece again. I went over the original painting with some open acrylics, which are much better handling in the warm dry weather we are having here now. I'm at the point now where the next step is to start adding collage.

I Will Be
The whole lower half will be mostly covered with the lacelike paper in the photo above. I tinted the paper today. Keep in mind that the fish will not be entirely covered with the paper, but the paper will help lessen their dominance. I will also be collaging on the large fish on the upper half and perhaps a bit in the clouds. I can't wait to start on the next step, hopefully later this week.

Thanks for looking! I hope you enjoyed your visit. :) Feel free to leave a comment.

Chickety Chickens: Those Images

The Reason
Alrighty, this is a present painting. My Mom loves chickens, now I'm pretty sure she has never met one in person but an image of a chicken makes her feel glee. She has for ages pointed out needle points in antique shops of chickens, to exclaim at the site of a plate with a chickeny flourish on it, and appreciate any painting that involves a chicken.

For this amount of time I've tried to dissuade her of buying anything with a chicken image, for those chicken engraved items that she will like when the chicken high has worn off. (To be fair to my Mom she really does have beautiful taste and is herself an artist. ;))


The Hidden Motive
Now of course, I'm feeding her addiction and indulging my desire to paint. ;) This painting is an amalgam of a couple of photos and is still very much in progress. I sketched directly with my brush and have continued to build up the painting from there.

This is the first time I've tried "open" acrylics which have a much longer drying time. They aren't oils, but they do let you paint a bit more like oils. I'm still not totally used to this in between medium, but I'm enjoying trying it out. :) Perhaps I'll start using this new product in my main mixed media style.

I hope you enjoy the imagery!

Update: I'll be posting the final imagery soon.