Foxhole

Description

A Winter Morning Encounter in Sheffield

Urban foxes are regular visitors to many Sheffield gardens, but catching one in morning light is exceptionally rare. In January 2026, heavy snow blanketed Greenhill, transforming our neighbour’s garden into a white canvas. We’d been monitoring our regular fox visitors with a trail camera – two foxes and a badger make nightly rounds through our Sheffield garden – but what happened that morning was something special.

At 2am, we watched through our kitchen window as two foxes played in the fresh snow. By 8am, one had dug a small hole in the snow and curled up inside it, using the hollow as temporary shelter. Foxes don’t hibernate, remaining active throughout winter, but they do create these snow shelters for rest and warmth between hunts. The moment was brief – the fox stayed perhaps a minute before moving on – but long enough to capture through the telephoto lens, which helped minimise window reflections.

The Photography Challenge

Photographing through glass is never ideal, and window reflections presented their usual complications. However, a telephoto lens helped reduce much of the interference, and the reference photo didn’t need to be perfect to serve its purpose. The real challenge was the timing – this was a rare instance of our foxes appearing in morning light rather than their usual nocturnal hours. Urban foxes in Sheffield are typically most active between dusk and dawn, making daytime sightings uncommon. The snow’s brightness and the fox’s warm colouring created striking natural contrast.

The Zorn Palette Experiment

Working in my Sheffield home studio, I created this piece in a single painting session using oils on 10 × 8 inches Ampersand Gessobord panel. The slightly larger format felt appropriate for capturing both the fox and its snowy environment. I chose to work with the Zorn palette – traditionally consisting of red, yellow, black, and white – to see whether this limited palette, typically associated with portrait painting, could effectively render wildlife subjects.

The fox itself translated well through these four colours, with the warm tones naturally suited to its russet coat. However, the snow proved more challenging than anticipated. Without blue in the palette, the snow took on a greyer quality than I’d initially envisioned, even when contrasted against the complementary orange and brown tones of the fox. This limitation became an interesting artistic discovery – sometimes the constraints we set ourselves reveal as much about our medium as our successes do.

Urban Wildlife in Sheffield

Foxes are well-established residents of Sheffield’s suburbs, adapting remarkably well to urban life. Our Greenhill garden sees regular visits from at least two foxes and a badger, all documented by our trail camera. These nightly visitors have become familiar presences, though they typically remain hidden during daylight hours.

Watching urban wildlife through the seasons offers glimpses into behaviour patterns rarely seen at close quarters. This particular morning provided one of those rare windows into a fox’s daily routine – the quiet moment of rest between the night’s activities and the day ahead.

Framed or Unframed

Choose the framed option and it arrives ready to hang. The frame is natural ayous, a pale, lightweight hardwood, with a 7mm face and 21mm depth. The panel sits inside it with a 5mm gap all round, so the painted edge of the panel stays visible and the picture appears to float inside the frame rather than sitting against it. A flush mount is already fitted to the back for hanging.

If you would rather choose your own frame, you can buy it unframed. For advice please refer to How to Frame a Painting on a Panel.

Original Artwork Details

Specifications:

• Medium: Oil on gessobord panel
• Size: 10 × 8 inches (~ 25 × 20 cm)
• Depth: 0.3 cm (~ 1/8 inch)
• Available framed or unframed
• Framed size: approximately 27.8 × 22.7 cm (~ 11 × 9 inches)
• Frame: natural ayous, 7mm face, 21mm depth, 5mm float gap, flush mount fitted
• Year: 2026
• Palette: Zorn palette (red, yellow, black, white)
• Signed on reverse

Shipping & Care

Your painting will be carefully packaged with protective materials and shipped via Royal Mail within 3-5 business days. The panel is robust and archival – oil paintings on panel have been proven to last for centuries when properly cared for. Display away from direct sunlight and extreme humidity for best longevity.