Impressions from the creation of the big watercolor drawing ,,Three green turtles in the caribbean sea“
I got this commission from a wonderful friend, Iris, a jewelry designer, who met this great creatures in the flat waters of the caribbean sea. She made impressive fotos, but they were a little turbid because of the moving waves on the narrow sandy ground. Iris, totally fallen in love with these fellows, asked me to do a big watercolour drawing of three, imagining them in calm, clear waters. Of course I was happy to face this artistic challenge!
At first l had to find out, what kind of race the sea turtles belonged to, because their carapaces were covered with algae and sand. Just their head structures gave me a hint: Wonderful green turtles! So I dived into my books and medias to study the carapace structure and pattern of green turtles.
In my drawing I had the possibility to give them their own characters and to let them communicate. Three siblings, the big brother in front, watching and following his two sisters, a little ballerina dancing, and an elder one, discovering deeper waters!
After drawing the three green turtles in my common way, I had to think about their surroundings. Even if green turtles are vegetarians and my friend Iris met them in flat water and their playground was obviously just covered with sand, algae and seagrass, their favorite meal, I liked to add corals in the deeper regions, the possible habitat of the caribbean waters with the crystal clear view that I had to imagine. So I let grow corals, sea anemones and sponges in the rocky deeper regions, were the turtles could hide, an octopuses garden!
And by the end I had to use watercolor to give them their clear water habitat! This aquamarin blue shining water they need and we adore so much! Hopefully my friend Iris will be happy with her three green turtles moving in her living room, meeting them every day – remembering the precious moment meeting them in real life years ago!
Here you can see the painting just finished in my studio, ready to take off! It is drawn on a wonderful high weight mould made watercolor board, 56x76cm.
May it make my friend Iris happy and may the christal clear water and the sea life not be just a dream on a picture but become the aim of whole mankind!
Angelika Maertterer meerehre drawings 