Louisburg Lighthouse with Leatherback Sea Turtle

CAD$650

Painting Size:  12'' x 12" oil painting. Can be framed in black ash with white liner (extra cost for framing) Total with frame $650.00

Painting Inspiration:  Leatherback Sea Turtles start in Tahiti.  They swim up to Nova Scotia but do not come to shore.  My love of lighthouses and sea turtles put these 2 ideas together for this painting.  What if a sea turtle came up to take a look at the lighthouse at Louisburg, found on the coast of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia?  Who knows???  

Perched on Cape Breton’s rocky shore, the Louisbourg Lighthouse was first built in 1734, making it the oldest lighthouse site in Canada and the second in North America. For centuries, its light guided ships to the Fortress of Louisbourg, enduring fires, sieges, and storms. The tower that stands today, built in 1923, is the longest-serving of them all, a beacon of resilience and place.

Out in the same waters, the leatherback sea turtle makes its summer migration north. At up to 2,000 pounds, leatherbacks are the largest turtles on Earth, yet they feed almost exclusively on jellyfish. These giants are ancient navigators, unchanged for over 110 million years. Able to dive nearly 4,000 feet deep and travel 10,000 miles a year across oceans.

Together, the lighthouse and the leatherback symbolize survival against the odds. One stands firm on the shore, the other roams endlessly through the sea. Both face an uncertain future, from neglect and erosion on land, to bycatch and plastic pollution in the ocean.

This painting brings their stories together, reminding us that heritage and nature are bound by the same truth: they endure only if we choose to protect them.