Reflections and Refractions

Description

People who know me are aware of my love of nature and in Florida and especially in Key Largo much of that revolves around the ocean, the coral reefs and the mangroves. The abundance of sea life and birds is always amazing to me and I never have a bad day out on the water.

John Pennecamp State Park, off Key Largo, is part of the 3rd largest reef system in the world. I often dive and swim there and all of the sea life I depict I have seen while swimming in the keys.  

The reef depicted is located in John Pennecamp and the exact location is the 9 foot tall Christ of the Abyss bronze statue made in 1965 by italian sculptor Guido Galletti. It now has some sea fans and algae growing on it and divers must only touch the hand.

I have taken some artistic license as I always do with the shape of the corals since it would be hard to see all this in one scene.

I have a particular love of the hawksbill turtle and am always happy when I spot one (which sadly is not often enough). My inspiration was the reflection of a hawksbill viewed from below on the surface of the water and I am often hypnotized by watching the water refracting light on the bottom thus the name Reflections and Refractions.

Besides the hawksbill turtle this painting also features the following sea life:
spotted eagle ray, green moray eel, yellowtail snappers, porkfish, sergeant majors, blue head wrasse ( male has a blue head but females are yellow ) , great barracuda, parrot fish, conch shell and lobster, corals, brain coral, elkhorn coral, staghorn coral ( now rare in the keys ), soft corals, purple sea fans ( can be purple or tan ) , tube sponges , cone sponges

Have some fun and try to find it all.