Donna The Rescued Turtle
I have a delightful story to tell you. And it starts with a big thank you to Catherine H. for purchasing my original linocut design Peace Maker #18 at Poor Michaels Emporium in Onanole earlier this month, and for sharing her story about Donna, her rescue Turtle. This story fills my heart with joy and I love how one of my artworks can provoke impactful meaning for others and relate to their life experiences. After acquiring Peace Maker #18, Catherine contacted me that she’d been looking for the perfect art piece to display alongside her rescue Turtle Donna’s habitat, and found it when she saw this artwork. In return, I was curious to see a photo of Donna, to know how Donna got her name and ended up with Catherine. I asked Catherine about this and she advised:
“Donna was originally bought as a novelty pet 18 years ago and named Donatello after the Ninja Turtle. The teen who got her grew up and moved away, and when I met her she was languishing in a 20 gallon tank in a windowless basement, with no room to swim and no place to bask. She was overweight from lack of movement (especially bad for turtles as it puts pressure on their organs), had shell fungus and damage that wasn’t healing. I was appalled and said I’d take her and find her a good home. This was in January 2020. By the time I got her fixed up, we were in lockdown together. And by the time we came out of lockdown, my home was now hers.
I can’t say enough good things about her. She’s incredibly social and interested in everything that’s going on. I also have two cats and she likes hanging out with them. When I said I’d take her, I had no clue about turtles and clearly underestimated them.
Attached are a few pics, including one of her viewing the painting, which she does quite often. It’s the perfect thing for her habitat! Thanks again for creating this beautiful piece!” ~ Catherine H.
Did you know there are only two native turtle species that inhabit Manitoba and it’s wetlands? They are Western Painted Turtle and the Common Snapping Turtle. The Western Painted Turtle is found mostly in the southern part of the province, living in ponds, rivers and lakes. Western Painted Turtles can live for more than 50 years. For more information about Western Painted Turtles, check out Nature North’s website.
And last week we discovered Boissevain, a community in the Killarney-Turtle Mountain municipality of southern Manitoba (south on #10 towards the Canada/US border), has Tommy The Turtle as their town mascot. Brian and I stopped by there to pose with Tommy on our way back from visiting the International Peace Gardens at the Border. After hearing Donna’s story, this gave a whole new meaning to our visit to Southern Manitoba’s turtle territory.
According to mythology, turtle teaches us about walking our own path in peace with persistence, determination and serenity. Slow moving on ground, agile in water, turtle encourages us to pause, observe and seek more grounded longer lasting solutions. She shows us the way of peace, inviting us to slow down, thereby gaining the emotional strength and understanding to cultivate the peace of mind, peaceful relationships and peaceful environments in which we will flourish, thrive and move forward. Turtles are one of the oldest surviving life forms on our planet, there are turtle fossils that have been uncovered dating from more than 200 million years ago. The turtle is a symbol of longevity, endurance, persistence, and the continuation of life, a steadfast unhurried journey of the spirit through time and space against incredible odds.
Peacemaker #18 is an original hand-pulled linocut print on paper I pre-coloured with watercolours, then hand embellished turtle’s shell with gel pen inks. No two of my Peacemaker hand-pulled prints are alike.
Peace Maker #31/50, 5x7” linocut
At some point I will be adding Peace Maker to my website. Meantime, if you love turtles, you might also be interested in my The Journey Artcards and Limited Edition Reproduction Prints.
In closing I hope you enjoyed this blog and wish you and yours all the very best.
“It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” — Confucius