An old painting of an old iguana

This is an acrylic on canvas, 24"x36", that I painted in 2004. It's hard to believe that this was dome 11 years ago! It was exhibited at the Leominster Art Association's 39th anual exhibit where it won a the popular vote award, and then at the Fitchburg Art Museum Regional Artists Exhibition where it did not win any awards, but it did sell to an iguana enthusiast.  I used my own photographs of a friend's pet iguana as a reference, along with photographs of iguanas that I found online. Because I used multiple photos rather than drawing from life, the front foot is actually a little small- but don't tell anyone I told you. 


Ultimately, I was *mostly* satisfied with this piece. It is a little stiff, and is really just a study of the animal and textures rather than an emotive painting. If it had not sold, I planned on adding some plants, flowers or foliage to the bottom right hand corner to cover the folds of the leg which, although anatomically correct, look a little strange in my opinion. I used liquitex acrylics with traditional oil-paint handling, with the addition of acrylic glazes for much of the background.

Oh yes, and before it sold, I failed to take a great, high resolution photograph! I need to get better at documenting!