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

United States Marines

"Answering the Call"

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 Marines, I elected to depict their contribution to the Current War in Iraq.

At the onset of this commission, I knew that the first painting I chose to do would set the tone for all the other pieces in the "Defenders of Our Freedom" series. And because I'd not done military art in any form before this, the first piece would have to prove to the folks at the Eastern Nebraska Veterans Home who had placed their trust in me and to myself, that I was actually capable of this project. We were all sort of holding our collective breath.

With that in mind, I needed for this first piece to pose the least amount of difficulty. Basically that means having readily available the most and the best quality of images, reports and stories of personnel and equipment with which to conduct my research. The current war in Iraq was the obvious choice. And as I started the research the U. S. Marine Corps seemed to me to be exactly the right service for this work. I was then set to begin.

Conceptually, I chose not to represent a single battle in this war, but to try to capture the essence of what it's like to be a proud Marine fighting to protect our freedom in Iraq. With my drawing approved, transferred to canvas and about 3/4 of the painting complete, the first true test of whether I had even come close to this lofty goal arrived. It arrived in the form of a young man named Patrick, the nephew of a dear friend who visited my studio. This young hero had just completed his second tour in Iraq as a U. S. Marine, where he earned a Purple Heart. There couldn't have been a better test for this artwork.

Patrick stood examining my painting in silence for what seemed to me to be an eternity. I was terrified. Slowly he turned to me and said only on word … "Wow!". I almost screamed with relief. We then spent the next hour or so talking about night-vision goggles, humvees, helicopters, knee pads and sand. …. I'd done it! … I'd gotten it right! …

Patrick now owns a print of "Answering the Call".