My wife, Mary, had a very pleasant dream about swimming with Sea Turtles. I started making art using the description and feelings she shared from that dream. Mary’s dream, turtles, fish and other natural images continue to inspire me. This image is made from acrylic crackle paste, paint, stencil, gels and glazes with a printed photo image of a sea turtle on an acrylic skin. I use photos in my acrylic work as skins and to make stencils. The gold figures made from stencils are derived from the natural shapes on the shell of a Hawaiian Clam species, Lioconcha hieroglyphica. The markings of the clamshells look like a form of written symbols or hieroglyphs. They are part of a series I am making called The Language of Clams. The floating pigments and gray white transparent acrylic bloom create shapes reminiscent of microbial and planktonic life in the ocean. The crackle reminds me of dried lakebeds and ocean floors from long ago and the memories they must contain of all that lived there. I have always felt at one with nature and the universe when diving in the ocean and enjoy sharing my feelings in these images.