Eastern Nebraska Veterans Home Project - "Defenders of Our Freedom"

United States Coast Guard

"Standing Watch"

As I explained in the introduction to this project, I've selected a different era for each of the services. This is so that not only are all the services honored, but the major conflicts of the 20th & 21st Centuries are also depicted.

For the Coast Guard, I elected to depict this service after the tragedy of 9/11 because of the large changes to this service at the time.

I have contracted with Artist Rising (an Art.com company) to provide prints for this image.

This will allow you to purchase matting and framing at the same time, if you need to.

Click thru to view the possibilities.

The story behind this painting was the hardest of all to write. This painting includes some personal history. You see, I was born and raised in Manhattan. And from my 16th floor bedroom window in the projects uptown, I watched fascinated as the World Trade Center Towers were constructed and rose up through the downtown skyline. On the morning of September 11, 2001, life quickly and overwhelming changed for most Americans. I discovered in my initial research for this painting, one of the major changes that took place following that horrific day was the movement of the United States Coast Guard to the Department of Homeland Security. The Coast Guards' mission priorities changed greatly after the July 2002 move. It's mission now includes military readiness, coastal sea control, and port security and defense. As a native New Yorker it seems to me that no where is this change more in evidence than in New York Harbor.

I came to that conclusion when in 2007, I returned with my husband to NYC for a family visit. One of our activities was to take an afternoon cruise on the New York Circle Line. The circle line is a boat that circumnavigates the island of Manhattan. During that cruise, I saw many of the USCG boats that I later included in my painting "Standing Watch". In fact, I used many of my own photographs for the research of this work. The range of emotions that I felt as I watched gun boats patrol and protect the harbor of my hometown would be very difficult for me to put into words. I was however, later able to channel many of those emotions into my painting.

So as I was doing the preliminary sketches and deciding on my composition for this painting I specifically chose the vantage point that you see. Even though the view of the Statue of Liberty isn't really the best point from which to see her, it is from this point that I was able to include Lady Liberty, a large section of the sea lanes and that particular section of the New York City Skyline. It is from that skyline view that the gap left by the missing World Trade Center Towers seems to me to be most conspicuous. If you look closely at the painting, you will notice that the sky color is a bit lighter where they would have stood.
So I guess that this painting is really my own personnel thank you to the men and women of the United States Coast Guard who put their lives on the line to protect the town I called home.