Hawksbill Sea Turtle Painting

‘Hawksbill Sea Turtle’ is painted with oils and silver leaf on canvas. It forms part of a series of paintings called ‘In the Balance’ which focused on the magnificence of some critically endangered animals superbly painted in Alexander’s hyper-realistic style. The turtle, which is painted with detail in oil is swimming through seaweed. The ‘ocean water’ is gilded with silver leaf and tinted lightly with transparent blue oil paint. There is another interesting dimension to the artwork. When one looks closer another sea creature can be seen, a seahorse which is embossed underneath the silver leaf as well as some coral. The beauty of gilding is that when the artwork is hung on a wall it reflects light and as the light changes throughout the day, so does the artwork. The light will expose the seahorse and coral and at other times it will remain hidden. The inspiration to paint the Hawksbill Sea Turtle was to give hope for its survival. To bring it before the viewer and create awareness about the plight of this fragile subject matter. Like other marine turtles, hawksbills are threatened by the loss of nesting and feeding habitats, excessive egg collection, fishery-related mortality, pollution and coastal development. The greatest threat is the harvesting for their prized shell, used to make hair ornaments, jewelry and other decorative items.