No more sightings of Mr [or Mrs] fox but I've been thinking about them a lot as I wrestle with the form my print should take.

I recently bought a copy of a book called Bestiary MS Bodley 764 which was originally produced around the middle of the 13th century and has some beautiful and colourful 'illuminations' of both familiar and mythical animals. Turning to the page on the fox I was surprised to read that

'The fox has very supple feet and never runs in a straight line but always in devious ways....'

it also states that the fox is the symbol of the devil, and plays dead to encourage birds to come down and perch on him and then 'seizes them and devours them.'......

 

He wouldn't play dead for very long if Poppy was around!

I've been doing some playing around myself, trying to decide on the best  background to 'illuminate' my fox and have done some unfinished prints which I will use  in the process. It's unlikely that I will make this a reduction print initially so I'll have to mask out the areas which I want to remain white.

 

My original drawing and unfinished prints ......is that a moon forming behind the fox's head?

 

In the next day or two I will be printing the final image and my aim is to have several different ones posted by Sunday so wish me luck and see if I've achieved my goal!