Prints: “Fox at the Bottom of the Steps with a Black Background”

When I first read this poem, I was struck by the phrase, “placid yellow glisten of just-sunrise sifting through the maple leaves”. I wanted to capture that pre-dawn appreciation of first light.

I spend a lot of time outside and have encountered animals in my path. It reminds me that we are all entitled to our existence. The poem mentions a hand stilled on the door latch and feet feeling the chill of the stone floor. I imagined being jolted from my preoccupation with human concerns to contemplate the way the fox must be experiencing this same morning light.

Because of the need to stay home during the pandemic, I switched from paint to colored pencil and paint pen. These are materials that I enjoyed in the past and my inner child was thrilled to use them again. My color choices were responses to that joy. I used similar colors for all the objects in the picture. This was both to create visual unity and to express a connection between all the objects represented: human, animal, plant, stone, sky.

This poem draws attention to the fact that chance events can be powerful reminders of what it is to exist.