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My client had purchased a large fiberglass turtle statue years ago. It was already in rough shape and continued to worsen over the years. His desire was simple; repaint this turtle. I didn't realize what a large project it would be.

Prepping this project took a lot longer than expected. I think it's mostly because I didn't expect to need so much paint thinner! This turtle has been painted about two times in the past. Once I had stripped the paint, I followed with some patching in the bad holes. Finally I primed it and was ready to go!

My client gave me full creative control, but I knew going into this project what I wanted to do. I was going to turn this mess into a beautiful loggerhead turtle.

I started by painting the head and limbs a tan color. I start most of my projects with a base color before gradually adding my highlights and shadows. I danced my brush back and fourth with different colors until I was happy enough with the base. Then I did the same for the shell. After all of it was colored accordingly, I got to start on the details. Throughout this time; I was able to take Tiktok videos documenting the process. Find here-

Once I was confident enough with the base , I started to add the details. I always love watching everything come together. I do struggle here though because I never know when to call a piece finished. I went in and added some texture around the neck and under the shell. The lines on the limbs really helped to pull everything together. The shell was my favorite part to work on as I got to use various browns and reds. Eventually a point where I could clean up all the lines, and put a final coat of clear varnish on her!