Upward

Upward is another of my turtles.

I love painting turtles and I pray that will never change.

Sea turtles are in peril right now.

The amount of plastic waste, general garbage, and pollution takes its toll on our oceans.

The plastic is even finding its way into our food chain through the fish we eat.

The turtles injest plastics, which in turn impacts them and they float.

When turtles float, they are prone to boat strikes which can put air into their shells.

Once a turtle has air in their shell, they can no longer be in the wild.

The plastic can sometimes be passed naturally, but most of the time they must be helped along.

If you ever get a chance to go to Marathon Florida, go to the turtle hospital there.

It is a magical place, with wonderful sea turtles in large tanks.

They also perform surgeries there to remove tumors that can plague them.

If the tumors can be removed and have not gone internally, they can be released into the wild again.

Upward, Acrylic on wood panel, 12 inches round

Day 63 of the 100 days~100 paintings 2022