This is the largest lizard species living in Hungary. It loves basking on stones, and if doesn’t feel threatened, it will be motionless for a long time to take photos of it. In the meantime, it catches some small insects. And sure, can blink!
During the day, when it is hot, it is impossible to catch the lizard because it runs away very quickly. If you grab its tail, it will break off and grow a new one in some weeks.
The early morning sun lures them out, but they need to warm up to be able to move fast. They still move slowly, that's why easy to grasp and take a closer look at. I once caught a lizard this way and put it on my shoulder, it stayed there for a long time. Of course, i would never hurt them, I’d rather admire these tiny dinosaurs.
The meticulous painting below was made from my own photo. Displaying the many tiny scales was a harder task than ever. But I’m not the kind to give up soon. The irregular frame surrounding the picture has already become my trademark.
As a first step, I drew the main lines and the frame.
The background is different in color from the lizard but harmonious. It got a base color first.
The lizard was given yellow, light green and azure basic colors.
From then on, it took me long hours to work out the details. I also had to fix some drawing errors.
Due to the roughness of the paper, a very nice texture could be painted on the rock using the dry brush technique.
The photo was originally taken with a small depth of field, so the parts behind are blurred. I also showed this in the painting, the head is much more elaborate than the back and tail, which even disappears behind the rock.
Interestingly, I didn’t use black at all. Instead, the darkest parts were given a mixture of sepia and dark purple.
Black has so far been found to be pale gray when dried, but if I wanted real beautiful gray, there’s Payne gray, which is actually a blend of sepia and ultramarine blue.
Here's the finished picture.
Some details: