Jamaica needs little introduction, its a large island in the Caribbean sea known to many people as a vacation destination. Like most of the islands, it was once a a part of the British colonial rule, and came into its own in the mid 20th century. To make the painting I looked up some information on the internet and perused Google map to get some ideas. The image is more or less a typical coastal scene with dramatic waves crashing against the rocks. The rocks were a kind of dark orange, textured pumice stone with small clumps of vegetation. Iguanas used to be abundant on the island until the mongoose was introduced to control rodent populations. The mongoose preyed on young iguanas until they were all but extinct. In recent times, the mongoose population is culled, and iguanas have started to return to certain areas. Unfortunately, deforestation is reducing what little habitat they have available, which is mostly inland. In the painting, I show an iguana on the sea coast, which would be like a historical idea since they don't seem to actually live there anymore. For the water, I used an array of techniques and varied the colour from navy, to blue, to turquoise near the shore.
World Inspired Landscapes: Jamaica, watercolour 10 x 11" cold press, January 2024 (No. 3363)
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