Red-bellied turtle

Let's paint some turtles. These two turtles were sunbathing on a log at a local pond. They look like they are enjoying themselves. I believe they are Florida red-bellied turtles.  My first step is to establish where they will be on my 6"x6" gessobord.

I have washed in some olive green in the background. This will be the water. I then put mixes of Gamblin red and olive green over the darkest areas of the turtles. By adding a little white to the mix, I paint in the felled  palm tree trunk

In this step, I put in the bright yellows and oranges under the shell. I add some olive green to make the shadowed areas.

Now is the time to get out the small brush. I paint in the yellow stripes and the patterns on and under the shells.

To finish the painting, I used a palette knife and added the white on the log. There needed to be a little movement in the water so a swoosh of the brush accomplished that.
Keep on painting and enjoy the process.