Did you see the turtle?

This is a little 8X10 oil sketch I did long ago of one of my favorite places. I named the painting, "Did You See the Turtle?"

Here I'm pointing at a school of wrasses, just about to do a spawning run. They look just like this. During one show where I displayed this painting, a really grouchy fellow said, "You didn't paint their eyes and fins!" Oh, Please! I said, "Mister, that's paint, not a photograph. I was using a brush with three hairs, I couldn't do more detail!"

I started a painting this morning. Had to quit before I got very far. Maybe it's this cold I can't seem to shake, but the critical crowd yelling at me in my head about how bad my painting is even only this far got to be too much, I couldn't defend myself against all their sour thoughts. Maybe next time I'll try to just do a detailed drawing and fill in the blanks. Instead of using a painterly style.