As a child growing up in VT, I was always outside during the summer playing in the river by my house. I never saw many turtles, but now I see them all the time! Last summer I was lucky enough to see a very tiny baby snapping turtle and this summer we’ve seen behemoth adult snappers that have to be at least decades old. All of 2022 I’ve been integrating snapping turtles into my drawings and some of my doll designs. I love the surly smirk that one gets from a turtle/dinosaur-like jaw.

I named this creature Barbara Ann, after the Beach Boys song, because I felt like it, and because this creature looks like a Barb. I guess I’m just thinking about the Beach Boys a lot, what with the summer weather and driving around with the windows down. I got particularly attached to the Beach Boys around age 7. I had most of their albums and even a sheet music booklet with Carl’s face (Carl was my favorite) prominently on the front.

While reading David Sedaris’ Calypso on vacation a couple of weeks ago, I came across a delightful sub-plot in which David becomes attached to a menacing snapping turtle on Emerald Isle, and plots to feed the turtle pieces of the fatty non-cancerous tumor that he was keeping in the freezer after having it removed.  I had worked out this turtle/dinosaur-inspired head pattern just before vacation, so snappers were on my mind, and reading Sedaris’ story felt like synchronicity (to take it a step further, my favorite character, Jerri Blank (played by Sedaris’ sister Amy) has a hilarious line in one episode of Strangers with Candy where she says, “watch out for those snapping turtles” while clapping one hand, then chatters her teeth; she hopes to convince Tammy to go skinny dipping in the rock quarry).

After playing around with my materials, I felt Barbara Ann looked best with a shorter wig and a lovely wool felt cape that has appliqued, block-printed linen patches featuring my own hand-carved vulture designs. It lends a witchy vibe that’s perfect for the next season.

Barbara Ann is available in my Etsy shop with her friend Terry.