Working on a new book - and the star is a turtle…so I had to stop and take some photos of this little guy I spotted after fishing. This is called a painted turtle because some varieties have a really colorful plastron (bottom of the shell) - not because they’re actually painted of course - although When I was a kid I found more than one box turtle with names painted on them. At the time I thought it was a neat idea, but my brother schooled me that it was not a good for the turtle. Their shells can absorb the chemicals in the paint and hurt them, not to mention that it totally messed with their natural ability to blend in. They bascially had “Snack” written in neon letters on their shell as far as crows and coyotes were concernend. Anyways, what was I talking about? oh yeah….I love turtles. I love painting. Painted turtles are cool. Painting on a a turtle is not cool. Painting a picture of a turtle is fun. Painting with a a turtle requires patience. There you have it.