So Cool ! I had a iguana for 22 yrs. He past away couple years back, and I miss him everyday. I placed him under a apple tree, on the edge of the sun and shade. Thanks so much for the awesome image and the memories!!!

Davidvantol - thanks for your great comment. I'm so sorry your iguana passed, but it sounds like you had an awesome relationship.

Sort of a cross between a an iguana and a Chameleon.

Superb creation.

superb!

I'm back on RR for 2 days, to do 2 comments each in everyone's galleries; and of course that isn't enough for your work, esp as you have a number of new images that I really want to write about. So I'll do more in the future; but for today, I'll pick two and give them the best that I can.

Not hard, considering what you've posted. I do see changes galore in your recent work. It's still you---those essences will never leave you---but in all kinds of different gowns. This has the feeling of a physical collage...you created the illusion of an iguana that's been pasted on top of a background, which, itself, is made of pasted-on elements. It's amazingly visceral while it's also two dimensional. Amazing you did this all in Photoshop! It looks like a real, hands-on collage, to me. But that's just the beginning.

You call this "cool," and I get that because the red version pulses with hot and sizzling hues and contrasts. But to me, this is still passionate; just calmed over with a deep green feeling. Like the world in its dawn, the first days when life appeared. There's a 'sea' feeling to me, in the blues you use around the iguana (in the leaves on the right, especially); and a feeling like this iguana emerged out of some emerald-shining deep realm, carrying treasures with him as he emerged. He's bejeweled. Wonderful segments of 'gemstones' all over him, where you've studied and penetrated the iguana's complex skin by giving every segment its own independent voice.

And you use reds and purples, etc, to emphasize the sense of gemstones embedded in his skin. That's very "carol" to me. Instead of using your deep swirls (often in the manes of animals you paint, or the complex feathers, etc), you're using bold jeweled segments, as if this iguana carries all the jeweled secrets of his specie, and of life itself. And since I can't get the "sea" out of my mind on this (sorry, lol, it just sticks in me!), he seems to be carrying his secrets from an "original place"), which is what the sea is in the long history of evolution...

Around him are rushing leaves, almost made of liquid and light as well as "leaves'. They're on both sides. And stand-out purple flowers, still in the bud. And open pea pods, which carry multi colored beads, like jewels again, or exotic inner-life-filled corn. A feel of oil and watercolor mixed. And the top dissolves, in Carol fashion, into washes and rushes of light, mingling with the physical. It's as if the top were the surface of a very complex translucent stone, and the light has revealed the worlds within it. This is a very inward portrait, yet it speaks so vividly on the 'surface'---amazing duo of expression you got here, they're both equally vital.

Finally, the whole thing rushes with spiritual energy and light. And primal beginnings. And your poem is a beautiful evocation of the embrace of change and letting things go to embrace the now. Yet timeless essences are all here, they never left. The painting is filled with a bejeweled first-day-of-life essence, and still radiates with change and flow. And, as for the camouflage abilities of the animal, he blends right in---but one could also say that he shapes the world around him, making it sway and glow with 'him'. Ie, asking the world to shed its skins as well, and join in on his dance. Another of your pieces where the universe surrounding is in harmonious dance with your subjects. It's a wonderful piece, much bigger in feel than its dimensions on the screen. And the detail of your execution is marvelously present and attentive. A vibrant eye-popping work of love. Terrific, Carol. Another terrific vision from you.

Mark, thanks so much for your inspiring comment. You always make me see things, including my own art, with new vision. I had a lot of fun with this iguana, trying new techniques and getting into the spirit of this fascinating and primal creature. Working on it made me go inward to explore some of my own feelings about adapting to the always changing happenings and energies of life. Your thoughts, insights and words, made me go even deeper, and are very appreciated.