Green Turtle

Here's the 5th & final canvas of Prayer for the Gulf. This green turtle felt like the key to the healing of the Gulf waters, so I painted her in the center, on a canvas that's deeper than the others. She's painted over an excerpt from the Prajna Paramita Heart Sutra, beloved of all the different schools of Buddhism:

Without loss without gain. Therefore in emptiness there is no form, no sensation, perception, mental reaction, consciousness, no eye ear nose tongue body mind, no color sound, smell taste touch object of thought, no seeing & so on to no thinking, no ignorance & also no ending of ignorance & so on to no old age & death & also no ending of old age & death, no suffering, cause of suffering, cessation, path, no wisdom & no attainment.

As I said, I felt the turtle was the key. The afternoon I finished painting her was July 15. As I stepped back to view her newly hung in the center of the others, I received this text message: "Yahoo is reporting the gulf leak has been tapped."

O, Great Turtle, so much healing awaits....