This painting began with a brief but unforgettable encounter. While swimming in Barbados, I looked up to see a green sea turtle emerging from the seafloor. For a moment, we met each other’s gaze. Then the turtle surfaced for air and disappeared back into the blue. That shared glance—silent, startling, and full of presence—has stayed with me.

Eye to Eye reimagines that moment through a larger oil painting. It became a way to hold onto a moment when two beings, from different worlds, were fully present to one another.