Finished Portrait

The final touches have been added to the basilisk and frogs, and I wanted to give you a closer look at the basilisk lizard's portrait. I was especially pleased that his regal profile and arresting eye are quite close to how I remember them in the live specimen at the Academy of Sciences.

Meanwhile, the painting is now at the photographer's studio. I am having a 4x5 transparency made, which will allow a full sized giclee print to be produced in the future. I'll also have a low resolution scan done of the transparency, which will be all that I require for producing greeting cards and 8x10 prints. A much higher resolution scan will be made if a full sized giclee print edition is made. Since that scan by itself is about $100, I'll wait till it's needed.

I'll post a better picture of the completed painting once I get back the digital scan to work with in Photoshop.

A scientific ID chart (for the lizard and frogs) will be the next step, as that will be on the back of the greeting cards and available with the original and prints.

Basilisk - front & center

Well, it's very near completion. There is a suggestion of scales now, especially on the basilisk's head. A bit more shading was added, as well as the details of the eye. The only thing left to do is to take some time off, then look at it again to see if there's anything I want to add.

The basilisk definitely shows up as the focal point as planned. (His eye is the real focal point.)
When I was working on the frogs, it occurred to me that they were so busy and colorful that the basilisk might not be able to compete. However, his comparative size and bright blue-green skin makes him stand out from the crowd surrounding him.

Basilisk continues

At this stage, I'm adding more shading as well as some definition of skin folds.

Basilisk takes shape

Here is the basilisk after about three layers of watercolor have been applied, allowing each to dry before the next is begun.

Main Character

The basilisk is finally getting some attention. He is the main character and focal point of the painting, and it is both a challenge and a joy to be working on him at last.

It's not easy being green...

The frogs have received almost all the details they are going to get, except for last minute touch-ups.

The large vine now has a fairly light coating of moss here and there, giving it an overall green hue. For this, I worked wet in wet with several different greens and browns. The tricky part was using a tiny brush to wet the vine areas of the paper between and around each frog before applying any color.

I may do more on the vine later, but it's finally time to start on the basilisk in the center!

Slight Change in Plans

I do plan ahead of time how to proceed with this type of painting, with so many realistic elements. However, the execution is an evolving journey, and sometimes I have to change course a bit. In this case, I have gone ahead and started in with the frogs' details, including the blacks. I know I'll have to go back in to add more color and texture to the main, large vine later. That will be a challenge, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. I just didn't think I would be able to properly judge how dark or detailed to go with the vine until I could see the frogs just about finished.

The center of the painting - the main character and focal point - is the basilisk. I'm predicting that he will be the final element to be painted, but perhaps I'll change my mind about that, too!