Where the Ocean Rests

About this piece

Warm light traces the shells and patterned flippers of six sea turtles resting beside the surf. A sharply detailed foreground turtle anchors the composition, while the others recede along the shoreline toward softly rendered water and rocks.

The story

I watched the surf fold onto the sand behind the resting turtles, its pale edge drawing a moving line through the scene. Warm light settled across their shells, revealing ridges and worn surfaces that echoed the rocks farther up the shore. I framed the nearest turtle against that quieter procession, letting the beach fill the foreground. What held me was the contrast: water continually arriving, and these bodies so completely at rest.