Flying South
2008 - 11.25"x12" Acrylic, colored pencil, pastel pencil, oil pastel, on wood.
Finished with one coat brush on Liquitex Matte Varnish #5232
(Private Collection - New York)

January 2008

I had recently completed "When It Rains", and there was a turtle in the painting that I liked. It started with one turtle that looked like he was flying. I drew a few more until there was a flock of them.

There is a duck pond that my wife and I visit every week in Prospect Park, Brooklyn. I remember wondering if the ducks would fly south for the winter. There are also turtles that live in the pond and I wondered what they would do when the pond freezes over.

The landscape area eventually evolved into a tropical island. In the background to the left of the smallest mountain, you will see Manhattan. The turtles are flying to an island in the Bahamas. I have never been to any islands off the East coast, so the island ended up looking like the Na Pali coast of Kauai, which is my favorite of the Hawaiian Islands.

This painting has a softer look due to the pastel pencils. Much of the color was created by using the pencils and then smearing the color with water. The mountains have paint to give them a richer color.

The photo on the left is how the painting started out.