Oh Turtles, all kids love them, in my childhood I got to visit land turtles as big as me; but I was too old to ride them. (You can no longer ride turtles at the Turtleback Zoo) in Essex County, New Jersey. Later, when I was a little bit older, I had a pet turtle, about the size of a silver dollar. Unfortunately my pet cat thought it was cute and kept removing it from its little terrarium. Finally one day I found the poor thing dead behind the sofa cushions after a long disappearance.
Italian families keep turtles as pets because they believe they bring good fortune.. They usually live on the front porch, with limited access to the kitchen.

I had the great pleasure to go to Hawaii this January with my dear husband, where I swam and snorkled and waded in the beautiful blue waters off the west coast of the big island.
While snorkling I saw all kinds of beautiful fish swimming in the coral reefs. I also swam by a large dark thing, and later discovered that it was a Green Sea turtle. During our last two days in Hawaii, we decided to wade in the tide pools across the street from our rented condo. To our great surprise and delight, huge turtles were there, fishing and cruising. The smaller ones were the size of a TV tray. I hear they can get to kitchen table size, but I never saw any that big. They were so unconcerned that I was able to get up close to them, close enough to observe all the detail you see here in my painting.
This painting is for sale, it’s 8.5 x 11.5″ hand painted watercolors, it’s a bargain at $150.00.