Chris Osborne Art 
Time for a Swim
The Story Behind the Painting
Back in January I went for a walk on Mon Repos Beach 5mins from my mums bed and breakfast. Mon Repos is famous for turtle laying, where people come from all over the world to watch this night time activity.
I decide to have a look for turtle tracks on the beach with mum. We soon found plenty of tracks on the beach from the night before, so we knew it was a successful hatching night. We spotted a few rangers digging up overdue nests and recording all the details from, number of eggs hatched, ones that didn’t, some not properly formed, depth and many other things for future reference.
We were lucky enough to see six baby turtle going for their first swim into the big wide world.
My Painting Process
I decided to paint another turtle for my mums bed and breakfast but this time facing the other direction, just to be different.
I started with a light wash, then moved on to my stippling brush to create some nice looking sand, I think this still needs a little work but gives the impression of sand.
I outlined the turtles shell patterns and then added some shadows under the turtle.
I guess I must have been concentrating way too much as I forgot to take anymore progress shots, which sometimes happens.
I actually used my other turtle painting as a reference and all so looked at its progress shots just to make sure I was following the same steps. So they are also useful to me if I want to create tow paintings that I can sell as a pair months apart.
I filled in each turtle hexagon then added a white edge to each then moved onto the flippers neck and head.
Since I totally forgot about this blog I’ve since had it framed and here you can see how I like to float mount my artworks to give a different kind of a look to create space.
This is now hanging in my mums, Dunelm House bed and breakfast at Bargara, Queensland just outside Bundaberg.
So apart from showing off my first haircut after Covid 19, here is the original artwork framed.
In my hand I’m holding some postcards and a fridge magnet that mum agreed to try and sell to guests after they go on turtle tours along with other postcards I have created.
Gouache Colour Palette
This was a very limited colour pallet, which I enjoy using and the more I paint Australian animals I’m finding that they have a similar base colour. Obviously the much more colourful birds and insects have a rainbow of colours, which makes painting them very enjoyable.
I use Winsor & Newton Gouache on Arches France Watercolour Paper, 300g Cold Pressed.
My painting come from my own experiences that I have lived and photographed while traveling. By reading this blog, you as a viewer can now hear The Story Behind the Painting. Where, when, what was happening while I was photographing the wildlife.
If you want more details about my adventures checkout my travel blog website www.ChrisOsborneAdventures.wordpress.com
Enjoy, Chris Osborne
Chris Osborne Art 