seaturtle art - Art of Angela DeRiso

A long while back, I did a few paintings for my bedroom after deciding that most wall art I wanted was out of my budget. I had several canvases laying around, and had a decent set of acrylic paints from painting sculptures in years previous.

I wanted something unique, and turtle themed. These are the pieces I painted.

The largest one is 22″ x 28″, and the other is 10″ x 20″.

The large canvas hangs just above my bed, where most people get a good view of it. More than once, people have asked me if it was for sale. Stupidly, I said no.

Well, after putting plenty of effort into my colored pencil work and marketing that, I get a call from someone specifically wanting paintings like these, but with a yellow background. So, I make these on 8″ x 10″ canvases, and make some extra cash. Later, I made more this size thinking maybe it would be worth it to list some for sale, and see how they did. Well, as of this writing 6 of them have sold. At $25 for an 8″ x 10″, they are both easy to make and seem to garner more attention than my other work.

It’s frustrating in a way, because I put so much effort and skill into my color pencil pieces and they barely sell. I believe they are harder, at least, to find the right buyers for. Not because of the subject, but because of the price tag. Someone has to be willing to invest in the work I’ve done, and those people seem the hardest to find. Especially now, everyone is tight on money, and art is a luxury purchase. I will find them eventually, but for now, I’m seeing where this new style will take me.

This style certainly seems to fit well with Florida and tropical themes in general, and the vibrant color schemes are very eye catching. I have done seaturtles, freshwater turtles, and a few box turtles so far. I plan on adding geckos, frogs, and some marine mammals to my collection.

This is the collection of paintings so far. More are being painted.

These in particular have been sold.