Finally, I can feel the emergence of a new painting taking form in my imagination. It has been gestating for awhile, and the elements have now become more specific in my mind. The main character will be a Plumed Basilisk, and I plan to get some good reference photos of the gorgeous specimen at the Academy of Sciences this Friday. That particular lizard really struck me the very first time I saw him. I think he will star in this next watercolor.
Another creature that I love at the Academy is the Tomato Frog from Madagascar. He has made me think of painting a selection of frogs at some point. I also have lots of lovely orchids I photographed at the Orchid Expo in San Francisco this year…
So, this is what I am thinking: A Basilisk is in the very center. He will be surrounded by a ring of orchids, each one different. A bit of air will surround the orchids, and then come the Frogs! Frogs will form a sort of outer border, but will be at least as important as the orchids. A large frog will sit in each corner, and smaller frogs will fill in between them, all anchored by a twining vine.
I plan to record the progress of this piece, for my own records, here in this blog.
The major first hurdle was deciding what the main elements would be: basilisk, orchids, frogs.
Second, I slowly imagined how they could be arranged together in a painting, as described above.
Once I stretched the watercolor paper, I knew this project would actually begin…