Turtle Painting: Old Man of the Woods
Walking down a rocky creek bed surrounded by dense woods on a hot October day, I came upon this Eastern Box Turtle cooling himself in the creek. He was unconcerned that I was inspecting him, so I picked him up for a closer look - brilliant markings on the shell, bright golden yellow flesh with a few random black splotches.
Knowing that this species can live in excess of 125 years, I guessed from the size of his shell, the deep fold of his skin and sagging eyes, he was approaching the century mark himself - a very humbling realization. And, considering the fact that this large tract of land had been left untouched, then protected and secured for many more years than that, it seemed likely I was the first human this old guy had ever laid eyes on. He was terribly unimpressed, and completely indifferent, if I read box turtle body language correctly. I placed my new model in a number of settings within a few feet of where I found him, trying to find backgrounds that allowed me to feature his markings and unique form. After capturing a few composition with my camera, I carefully placed him back in the exact spot he was upon discovery. I sat down on a damp boulder and watched him for a long, long time. He never moved from the spot. After some time I stood up, nodded a little bow and walked on down the creek bed.
Watercolor Notes:
I had placed this turtle on a moss covered area of the creek-bed to allow the orange yellow and red ornaments on the shell to gain emphasis. As usual, my first concern was to hold the crisply defined shapes- turtle, nut shell, leaves- intact, while I worked in the background. After carefully drawing the composition, I blocked out those shapes using liquid masking fluid (my particular favorite is Pebeo brand drawing gum). Once the masking fluid dried, I was free to "scumble" in combination washes using Hookers Green, Burnt Sienna, Violet and Cobalt Blue to create the fuzzy, edgeless look of moss.
Once I was satisfied with that element, and certain it was dry, I removed the masking material, which left all of those preserved shapes white.
Next, I painted each of the individual shapes, leaving the turtle for last. The leaves and nut shell were done with soft washes extended subtly with water, or laid into water that I brushed into the shape. It was important here to keep them very transparent and light in value to let them lift off the dark background. I used varying mixtures of the same pigments combined for the moss covered rock on these objects, which kept them in color harmony with the background.
I had painstakingly drawn out the design on the turtle's shell, Next, I masked out the part of the design that was not black (or very dark). Once the mask was complete and dry, I washed Ivory Black into the darker areas of the shell, pulling the wash out into the areas that carried some reflection- creating the orb form. When I removed the masking again, it showed the design in white. I used more intense relatives of the colors already used to punch up the design- Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Yellow, with a little Cadmium Red- again, making sure to keep transparency intact so the design glowed off the black of the shell.
Final touches included washing in the yellow-orange flesh and enhancing darks everywhere to further bring out the luminosity of this Old Man Of the Woods.