Turtle Love

Sea turtles don’t mate for life I found this out while doing research for a commission I did a few years ago. My surfer son had just moved his family to Oahu, so I was lucky to spend a month or so there hanging out with his adorable beach babies. There was a whole thing with quarantine for their dog, so we kept our favorite grand dog.until he and I flew to Hawaii together. G joined us later. (At the time my daughter was living on the Big Island, her husband was finishing school in Seattle when they found out they had to move due to a devastating lava situation, it later wiped out their town. So I spent time there helping her pack up a get ready to join her husband.)

I saw a lot of turtles on that trip. Reading up on them, I learned a handful of facts. One of those I-can’t-believe-this-is-my-life moments.

Sea Turtles have friendly relationships with each other. They seem to have many different friendships. This painting is about friendship. Sea turtles are gentle, calm and friendly. They hang out together in small groups, sometimes they will even befriend a human swimming by. I guess they aren’t romantic and unlike penguins, don’t need to pair up. I like the casual friendly calmness of sea turtle friendship, it’s sweet.