The Old Soldier

The Old Soldier (7x9, pencil sketch)

This is the finished sketch for Inpsire Me Thursdays "green" topic.

It is a drawing of a snapping turtle that is from a photo I took of a very large snapping turtle (14-15 inch carapace) on the road near my home about a year ago. He was crossing the road and was actually pretty quick about it considering what you hear about how fast turtles usually move. A turtle this size is quite old and has probably been through a lot - a real warrior.

The turtles are actually protected around here and there are signs for turtle crossings - you are supposed to help them and not run them down - so in a way this is "green" because helping creatures is a green concept. It is also green because there is a slimy green moss and algae on his carapace that made him look like an old rock from the top.

I'm happy with how this drawing turned out. In real life both sides of the drawing are the same saturation. It is done across the spine of my sketchbook so the light is hitting each side a little differently causing the turtle's right leg to look lighter.

He looked quite alot like a walking rock and I can see how people step on them in shallow water and end up losing a toe from that snapping beak. This guy was the perfect old gentleman though, he never even hissed at me - just laid there and let me take his picture from about 3 feet away from him. I was very fortunate indeed.

Here is the photo I took of him....