"Friends in the Spiny Forest"

Progress Story and Pictures:

To start I made a sketch and jumped right in and forgot to take any pictures until this point.

I knew I wanted to add edible foliage and decided to use endemic and invasive species of the Southwest tip of Madagascar where Radiated Tortoises live. I chose Endemic Hibiscus and Octopus tree and Invasive Opuntia cactus apples.

Here I realized I wanted to see the Ocean in the background and was pretty stoked at how close I got the landscape before looking up some reference photos.

Here we are many hours later.... I thought it was done here, but it was not. Also the lighting is throwing it off a bit, but, you get the idea. In between these photos I had realized it needed more life movement and added endemic Malagasy Bees to bring more life and vibrence and movement to the landscape:

Highlight. Shadow. Hight light more. More shade. Sharpen thorns. More shadow. More color. More detail. Get out the magnified glass. On repeat.

and The Finished Painting:

And finally, the piece with it's rightful owner, and the artist with the inspiration ✨

and here are some close ups! Thank you so much for checking out my Radiated Tortoise paintings progress story. I hope you consider ordering your own print to add to your Art and/or Chelonian Collection today!

"Friends In the Spiny Forest"

Available Here :)