Back to the Fox Painting

Here's the next stage of the autumn fox painting.  I worked more on the trees, defining the shadow areas, adding brighter highlights here and there, and adding more branches.

Then I worked on the field.  I was itching to get to the fox, but had to finish what would be behind him first.  The field is mostly Raw Sienna, Taupe, and Yellow Ochre with washes of Dioxazine Purple for the shadow under the fox and the darker area at the bottom of the painting.

Finally, it was on to the fox.  I usually paint animals by blocking in color and then deepening the color and building form and texture with a liner brush.  But this time I substituted a small, beat up round bristle brush for the liner brush and liked the results it gave.  In some areas I dabbed with it, and in others, I stroked.  I guess it was sort of like painting with dry brush.  Of course, for the small details in the face I did use my liner brush as well as small round and flat Golden Taklon brushes.

This would be a good time to put in a plug for my favorite brushes - they're Scharff brushes from http://www.artbrush.com.  Check them out if you have a chance!