Outstanding composition with a great color palette. There is also a lot of motion in this piece as well. Brilliant.

Amazing Carol. xx

Absolutely beautiful art-work !!!!!!!

Magnificent artwork!

Love it.

absolutely beautiful Carol

Gorgeous Carol!!!

Outstanding work. God bless.

really beautiful!!!!!

I love the little poem that goes with this beautiful image, a super addition to your collection. He looks so cute as he glides through your ocean. Outstanding work and colors.

Fantastic Work,

Beautiful!

I've threatened to comment on your last several images, but I still haven't done it. But I've not commented anywhere until today; and I'm only leaving a few comments today. (My arm and shoulder have been really painful, and I've been very tired much of the time, and meaningful comments wouldn't have worked very well.) My choosing this image today is no statement against all the others: You've posted one masterwork after the next; and one of these days I'll get to them all. But for now, to assure you that I've seen everything (and loved them), I'll comment on this...

While you continue to do your lush, opulent, flowing paintings (like the macaws), you're also doing more and more semi-abstract work: And I need to explain that word. "Abstract" originally meant to pull something out of something (to 'extract', in essence); and therefore intones essences. Not something "ungrounded" or "with no relation to the world," etc. (Even pure abstracts have much in common with the forms of nature: They're not "from the sky".) This is abstract in the former sense, of getting at essences. The naturally compartmentalized forms of a turtle almost cry-out for a visual breakdown, where each of the turtle's segment becomes a small work of art. Each segment can be an exploration (and a joy). You've made each segment into a little ridge, a little hillock, filled with its own ecology, hues, textures, etc. And your modeling of the edges (your shading---I mean 'modeling' in the oldest sense) lets each segment stand out. And, as you've been doing in these alcohol-based works, you've made several segments into coral, pearl and other sea-based jewels; with beautiful watercolor-like washes and translucent surfaces. You've even softened the edges of the turtle, as if he were shining so much, he created flare. (The top-back of the turtle's a perfect example. His light's too great for your camera, so to speak...dissolving light!)

But then there are his front legs (if that's what they're called), and his head: There, you did something you've done more and more of, of late: segmenting surfaces into 2 dimensional jeweled montages. Like decoupage with gemstones stuck in. I love the textures you create with that: They're more 2 dimensional than 3, they are very immediate and visceral, and very inviting. They're also folklike and primal---like his head: What a great head! Like it was made by artisans, of the stones and pebbles of their immediate surroundings, placed in the sculpture with great care, to be passed through the generations to venerate the divinity of a turtle (which might be a great spiritual symbol to them).

And your surroundings are filled with those alcohol-based 'bubbles', gurgling up from the primal ooze; and filled with lush greens, blues, turquoises, etc. Waves are very common in your work; but, in this style, you fill them with surface ridges and pebbles, and they're so tactile and immediate as a result. Again, you're making the surface very immediate, very much of the plane of the painting---which I love; esp as it's part of an artwork that is still very 3 dimensional/deep. And the whites give a glow throughout, even under the turtle, where you have white accents that are not so much 'highlights' as milky flares, as if this creature brings his own light with him wherever he goes. All of which illuminates your beautiful poem, celebrating the sureness and meditative slowness of the turtle (and what he has to teach us human beings). (In some Native American cultures, you probably know, the turtle stands for the earth, ever solid, ever under our feet, like eternity.) A beautiful piece, like a painting studded with jewels and sacred stones; and the blues, greens, yellows and browns make it feel eternally springlike and very earthen---like the turtle itself. Another insightful and always airborne beauty from you. (Just to show you I've been looking.) Another inspired gem!

Such an awesome comment, Mark. You really thrill me with your observations, not only of my art, but of the world, and beyond. I don't know how there can be so much inside one human, but there is a Universe in you that is just limitless. And I thank you so much for sharing that Universe within you ... with me. My digital art is for the most part realism, and so I have truly been enjoying the freedom of exploring the abstract world. As you said so eloquently, it is a way to get at the essence of something. I think I am an essence seeker in my art, trying to find it, trying to express it, and always hoping others will get it. You get it, in spades. This turtle, a survivor of eons, walks on land, and swims the seas, is to me the essence of earth and water, and strength, and I wanted to show that in the colors and textures of this beautiful creature. I did try to make each segment of the shell a little world, and I'm blown away but not surprised that you saw this. You see things that no other sees and with such a unique vision, you make me re-vision my work and try to bring that to a new work. Your comments live inside my head like little seeds that are planted and continue to grow, blooming later is other things. That is the gift you bring, Mark. Words, thoughts, feelings, insights, images that have a life of their own. And I'm so grateful you share those with me with such generosity. And then you say things like, 'sacred stones' and 'primal ooze', and my mind and imagination begin to gurgle and bubble and things begin to brew deep inside, like a creative stew cooking. Thank you, Mark, for feeding the artist in me and for all that you give. Your comments are a banquet that fill me up with ideas and leave me both satisfied and also hungry for more.