#2996 "Curious Red Fox Kit"

#2996 "Curious Red Fox Kit" 
16 X 20 (inches).
 Started at 10:30 am, January 24th, 2026

This is another image taken by my friend, John Verburg, a naturalist and terrific photographer. The curious but very startled kit fox was rounding the corner of his barn to an encounter with a camera. Canvases #2993 through #2995 were very wet, so I decided to forge ahead on another canvas. It was still bitterly cold outside.

John had a fox family living on his farm and was hoping to catch the kits at play. John is seldom without his camera and long lenses. He is very conscious of not interacting with wildlife and encouraging them to be unnatural, even if they choose to live nearby. This kit had bounded playfully around the corner of the barn. The kit and John were probably equally surprised, but John managed to take a photo of a lifetime - a wide-eyed kit with a bit of a smirk during its close encounter with an alien species.  

The challenge for me was to preserve the vitality of the image on canvas. The temptation in the studio with the luxury of time and materials is to revert to photographic realism and lots of detail. I tried to use bigger brushes and keep the oils textured. This was a challenge for me... The eyes were especially intriguing, and one of the reasons why I paint. 

The red fox is the largest of the true foxes and one of the most widely distributed members of the order Carnivora. Males are called tods or dogs, females are called vixens, and young are known as cubs or kits. 

Red fox are found around the entire Northern Hemisphere, including most of North America, Europe and Asia, plus parts of North Africa. Its range has increased alongside human expansion, having been introduced to Australia, where it is considered harmful to native small and medium-sized rodents and marsupials. The red fox is included on the list of the "world's 100 worst invasive species" because of its impact on native species 

The red fox is distinguished from other, typically smaller fox species by its ability to adapt quickly to new environments. Despite its name, the red fox produces individuals with other colourings, including whitish (leucistic) and black or nearly black (melanistic) individuals. Forty-five subspecies are currently recognised which are divided into two categories: the large northern foxes and the small southern grey desert foxes of Asia and North Africa.

The eyes were the mission of this portrait... 
Even the expression on the snout was quirky.

Red foxes are usually found in pairs or small groups consisting of families, such as a mated pair and their young, or a male with several females having kinship ties. The young of the mated pair remain with their parents to assist in caring for new kits. The species primarily feeds on small rodents, though it may also target rabbits, squirrels, game birds, reptiles, invertebrates and young ungulates. Fruit and vegetable matter is also sometimes on the menu. The red fox is vulnerable to attack from larger predators, such as wolves, coyotes and large predatory birds.

The species has a long history of association with humans, having been extensively hunted as a pest and furbearer for many centuries, as well as being represented in human folklore and mythology. The red fox is one of the most important fur-bearing animals harvested for the fur trade.

The temperatures were in the minus twenties outside. The wind chills were much colder. 

I was employing two and sometimes three palettes on this painting. Keeping the oils clean was an important mission. 

For this and much more art, click on Pixels or go straight to the Collections. Here is the new Wet Paint Collection. Thank you for reading, and stay well!

Warmest regards, and keep your paddle in the water,

Phil Chadwick