The Turtle Trot 5K/10K run and walk was Sapt, 4, and everyone who entered got an original work of environmental art – that they can wear!

The Labor Day Weekend race is organized annually by Amelia Island Runners. Proceeds benefit Amelia Island Sea Turtle Watch and turtle patrols inside Fort Clinch State Park, as well as our nonprofit running club’s youth running programs.

Again this year, local artist and turtle-patrol volunteer Sandra Baker-Hinton created an original work of sea-turtle art for the race T-shirts.

“This time I wanted to show where the young sea turtles hang out,” Sandra said. She explained that after the turtle hatchlings make their way from their nests along the beach to the sea, they head for the protection of Sargassum seaweed beds well offshore. The lucky survivors of that perilous trek stay for about a year, feeding and growing. Then they embark on a 25-year journey that takes them to faraway places like the Azores, before returning to their home beach area to lay eggs as adults.

Sandra switched from acrylics to watercolor this year to depict the loggerheads in their sea-and-seaweed hideaway. She also revealed some of her “tricks” for creating the scene.

Using her own turtle photographs from her Fort Clinch patrols, she drew the images on tracing paper that she overlaid on the painting to determine the best composition, then transfered the images. Another trick: “Sprinkling salt on the wet paint to give it a watery look.”

She also went interactive this year, explaining her creative process for the painting on her blog.