'He had green eyes': Florida man will paint alligator that attacked him

• Mark Johnson given 60 stitches for deep wound in leg
• He wanted to roll so he could start dismembering,' artist says

In several decades as a professional artist, painting Florida's marine life, Mark Johnson has developed a pretty good eye for detail. Now the outdoorsman whose website offers realistic portrayals created primarily from memory and imagination" is about to start work on a gritty new work: an alligator with rows of perfect white teeth, clamped on the thigh of a man out walking his dog.

It will be a self-portrait. On a morning stroll with his golden retriever Rex along a canal near his home in Port St Lucie, Johnson was attacked by an 8ft 6in alligator that lunged from the water, raced towards him and chomped down on his leg, causing a deep wound that required 60 stitches.