Inspiration

I love dragons -- always have.  From early in my youth I had always pictured them as fearsome scaly and spined creatures of nasty temperament.  The painting by the Brothers Hildebrandt of J.R.R. Tolkien's malevolent dragon Smaug seemed the very landmark of what a dragon should be.  Then came Anne McCaffery to describe them in a whole new way. 

This was the first book of the Pern series that she wrote that caught my eye, and that was thanks to the bright white dragon painted by Michael Whelan on its cover.  Ever since then, I've had a much broader perception of what a dragon can look like.

I was so taken by this wonderful picture that I knew I had to sculpt it. 

The title "Fire Lizard" comes from the little dragons in the Pern books which are supposed to be a little over a foot or so in length.  Since the sculpture is about that long, it seemed a fitting title.