"I completed the pencil drawings for this picture, but somehow I was not satisfied. It was not until I drew the shadow of the eagle's wing on the shell of the tortoise in the finished painting—as a directional to show which way the tortoise is going once the eagle releases it—that it worked. I should mention the fable is about a tortoise that believes flying is just a matter of practice so he convinces an eagle to take him up for a flying lesson. Needless to say we know the results!"
