I recently finished my watercolor of a "painted turtle on a log", that I first experienced in the wild on Kezar Lake near North Waterford, Maine, and in my childhood. Ever since I was a young boy, I loved them, caught and released them, and even had a small pet store one I named "Snappy" when I lived in California.
As an artist, I find them amazing even today and a challenge to paint. When we moved back to Maine in the seventies, I remember I caught a good sized painted turtle on Kezar Lake. My family rented a cabin in the North Waterford region in Maine where my mother grew up. Back then, I was living the dream, swimming every day and caught many fish, frogs and turtles, always with the intention of releasing them. But with this one, bigger than all the rest I had caught, I wanted to track it visually, and have the ability to identify it after I released it once again in the lake.
So I decided to paint markings on its shell with paint I found in a nearby wood shed near the camp where we were staying. Ultimately, It didn't work. After I released it I never did find it again, even though I searched all over the lake for days by rowboat. Even years later I would looked for it but by then, as I feared, my colorful markings on its back must have blended in or washed off, making it impossible to identify from other ones. The lake had truly claimed its turtle back.
In this time of year I often see many such turtles who climb up a floating log to sun themselves. For this reason and the genuine admiration I have for these animals, I was inspired to teach a class on how to paint animals in watercolor. After my decision to teach this class I became aware that many of the artists that I admired in art history also painted their own versions of their admired animals and pets, as with with Andy Warhol's dachshund he named "Archie".
Thankfully, due to a decision to paint the assignments myself that I gave to my students, I was able to watercolor paint 10 animals as demonstrations through the Bangor Continuing Education program. The following eight paintings are the watercolor paintings that I did with my students. Our ten week adult education class ended last week with wonderful portfolios that each artist shared in a supportive critique. Here is mine.
