Red Cross Turtle -- art, regional history and honoring Gaia.

..."she is a version of Gaia/Great Spirit with the dome of the sky (the wind of inspiration) as her back, the rushing water of her heart, her feet the solid lush earth, fecund with birch and blossoms, and the fiery sun the guiding beacon of her convictions."  Kim Richelle

A long-time dream of mine has been to paint one of the large fiber-glass animals that pop up in our area every now and then for the American Red Cross Auction and Fundraiser. Through various life, work and scheduling issues this is the first time that I have been able to do this fabulous project and I have had a blast so far!

The Great Turtle is a strong and abiding Spirit here in the North and it was that Spirit I wanted to honor. My beautiful artist and word-smith friend  Kim Richelle provided the perfect wording for my design and she has generously allowed me to use it <3 

Here are some images of *my* Turtle .. 

my submission design to The Bay Harbor Foundation

base coats of land, lake, and sky are applied

the sky and lake begin to emerge

sunset , clouds, and horizon come into being

birches, flowers, and more... a little more tweaking and She will be completed.

Look HERE for a local story of The Great Turtle 
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The Turtle Auction and Artist's Reception

   

               

It's all over- the turtle was painted in early June (see the above entries) and displayed through out the Little Traverse Bay all summer. Last night was the auction and gala at Bay Harbor along with the artist's reception. It was a nice event and allowed me to show my work to a portion of our summer visitors that -before now- I have not had a chance to; hopefully something will come of that. My turtle- 'Beneath the Birches'- sold at $3,500, less than I had hoped but more than I personally could have donated to the Red Cross. The money will go to help a family in need of disaster assistance in our area so 'its all good'.