There is more to painting than one might think. It is again a liquid with a mind of its own, and it creates its own flow, its own light. I like to paint in layers, first the base color, the background; then more and more detail. I like to look around me at the colors I see and imagine the layers of color that are there, the light reflecting in some cases, absorbing in others. And, as each paint color hits the fabric, it spreads in its own way; it follows its own path. The lines it creates are unpredictable, unintentional. I feel freedom in those lines. When they go where they seem to need to be, instead of where I think they should be (all except outside the wax lines…that’s when I get my Tide pen out). I paint the turtle in layers of light and green, I imagine all the days and age on this turtle, where it has been, how where it has been affects those green lines. Maybe there’s a scar with a darker green, maybe a wrinkle with a lighter edge, maybe there’s the light of that Kelly green through the miles and miles of blue water. Color transforms me and transforms my turtle friend, color makes this turtle start to come alive.