Where do art ideas come from?

 There are probably as many answers to that question as there is art.

I'd like to share with you the circuitous idea evolution of my latest painting.

 

As I was looking over images of the paintings I am bringing for my upcoming show at Waterfowl Festival in Easton, Maryland (waterfowlfestival.org) I felt a painting was missing. For a while I stared at the images as a set on my computer wracking my brain for just the right idea or even subject matter to give me a jump start. The grouping to some might feel disparate but I thought one more piece would supply the missing link.

Then it came to me. I needed a fox painting. And, if I put the fox in the snow, that might be just right.

First I started looking through my snow photos from around the house. 

The winter lighting here can be is so perfect on freshly fallen snow that I am often out walking our woods looking for good reference. As I went through hundreds of my photos, one stopped me in my tracks. It was a photo (one of my favorites) of Pebbles out on one of our walks.

This will take a bit of explanation. We walk our cats in the woods. This is something they enjoy year-round, including in snow. They get a chance to explore the area in safety with us, smelling traces of visitors, climbing trees, and playing with each other when we have two cats. And yes they stay with us and are disappointed if a morning or evening walk is missed!

Pebbles was a cat which adopted us. She lived with a neighbor on an adjacent ten acre parcel but when she reached eight preferred our dog-free property. The neighbor was fine with the change of address and even would come up to feed her when we were out of town. (Note: we have only had cats which adopted us or we have adopted from a shelter.)

Below is the photo which inspired the painting.

Here are two more of Pebbles.

 

 

 

And here is the start of the painting with the background reversed.