Monday, December 1, 2008 - Above you see the first thumbnail sketch of the last painting in this series, the United States Merchant Marines. And believe it or not I already have a titled for this painting -- "Precious Cargo" . But I get a bit ahead of myself here. I think I need to supply a little background on this one.

In time of war the Merchant Marine is an auxiliary to the US Navy and can be called upon to deliver troops and supplies for the military. During the Korean War, the Merchant Marines brought approximately 75 % of the personnel to the war zone along with about 90 % of the supplies, including mail, food and ammunition.

In December of 1950, 64 Merchant Ships participated in the evacuation of Hungnam during the Chosin Reservoir campaign. (www.usmm.org/hungnamships.html) Approximately 350,000 tons of cargo, 17,500 vehicles and over 100,000 military personnel were removed. Also escaping North Korea and the on coming Communist Chinese were more than 90,000 Korean refugees. On December 22, the SS Meredith Victory, a 455-foot Victory class Freighter of the Moore-McCormack Lines, which had been carrying supplies to American Servicemen on behalf of the Navy, arrived in Hungnam.

That night, the SS Meredith Victory began taking refugees aboard. Men, women and children boarded the ship throughout the night. When daylight came, there were 14,000 people aboard a ship that was designed to hold 60 people at best. With little food or water, in frigid temperatures and with no sanitary facilities, Captain La Rue, his crew and passengers set sail for South Korea. The ship sailed through waters that were heavily mined and patrolled by enemy submarines. They were turned away at the port of Pusan. And finally arrived at the island of Koje Do on Christmas day. The next day, with the assistance of the US Navy, all the refugees were safely taken ashore along with the 5 babies who were born on the ship.

The Meredith Victory became known as The Ship of Miracles and is one of the few Gallant Award winning ships. The Department of Transportation along with the Guinness Book of Records declared the voyage as the greatest single rescue in history. To learn more about the Meredith Victory you can go to

www.meredithvictory.com --- and/or --- www.shipofmiracles.com

What I'm going to try and depict is the boarding of some of those people onto the Meredith Victory. Cross your fingers.

December 11, 2008 - Slower work done yesterday 'cause I was doing smaller detail work. The colors are in for the official seal and in behind the rope ladder and the people on it. Off to do more laying in of base colors today.

December 14, 2008 - I put in more of the ship detail and it really is coming alive now. Also some more of the boxes and bags on the dock. They were all about the same color so it was easy to just put them in all at once.

December 18, 2008 -- The light was a bit cooler in the studio this morning, so that's the reason for the shift in color on this image. I didn't go changing color with this one. I added 2 more people. And it's really coming along, even if it is slow.

December 19, 2008 - Another grouping of people are in. You'll also notice that I'm putting in the shadows on the ground that would be cast by each person and bag. I think that the cast shadows are one of the things that are most forgotten in paintings and yet they are sooooo very important to giving depth to 2-D art. We're pretty much snowed and iced in here in Omaha, NE. So other than doing some shoveling I should get a whole uninterrupted day at the easel.

December 22, 2008 - More groups of folks are in and I put in another layer of the dark gray-brown on the ship. It was several different colors of blue-gray and brown-gray. I was having some trouble mixing up enough of one color to do the whole ship. Not sure why that was! *giggle* Anyway, got a good layer of color in now and I was able to get the rope ladders in too. With the small details going in it's taking longer, but I think the details are worth it.

December 23, 2008 - Lots more people went in yesterday. Just a few more left on the ground, then I move to the rest of the details on the ship and the people on the ship. I also added a second layer of paint to the ground. I think a third layer will be in order for it. And maybe some more boxes and bags, not sure of that yet.

I wish you and all your loved ones a wonderful holiday!!

Stay warm and safe and merry!

December 27, 2008 - I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Here at the Rosario-Downey residence things were wonderful. Our girls and families were both here for Christmas day and it was just too wonderful to have a baby around for the gift giving. Everyone was smiling and laughing all day!!

But, back to work now. I've got all the people on the ground in now. The ground itself got another layer of color (some of the shadows were lengthened). And the body of the ship received another layer also. I think I'm going to work on the sky and the background elements next, then on to the details of the upper sections of the ship.

December 29, 2008 -- Well, true to my word, I worked on the sky in the background. There's more blue in the farthest sky and lots more detail and color in the smoke from the explosions. Just to reinforce one of my favorite pieces of advice -- "Good art takes time" ... the second layer of color on the background took an 8 hour day. Of that time, a little over 5 hours was spent at the easel. (Every hour or so, I get up and walk around and stretch. If I don't do that I would end up cramped and in pain.) So just remember to take your time when you paint, it will be worth it in the end.

December 31, 2008 - I worked on a few miscellaneous things. I cleaned up and finished the Merchant Marine Official Seal, and I gave it a bit of a shadow so that it would really pop off the painting. I've done that with all the other seals too. It's subtle so that you don't actually notice it, but it does it's job. --- Then I gave the oil tanks and bunkers a bit more detail and the water received a second coat of color adding a bit more depth to it. --- Then it was on to the ship and adding all the elements to it. More of those are yet to be done.

I also added a layer of retouch varnish to 4 of the other paintings. I do this for several reasons. The first is to add a layer of protection to the painting. With the varnish you can now gently wipe the surface clean of dust without harming the paint surface. The second reason is that as oil paint dries it looses it shine and get dull and flat. The varnish brings that gleam back, restores the depth and retains it. I use the retouch kind because the restoration folks at the Smithsonian recommend that type of varnish. It's easier to remove if you are doing a restoration of a painting.

January 2, 2009 - Happy New Year!!! I hope you all spent it happy and safe, we did!

Well I'm on the last bit for this painting. The ship has received almost all of it's detail. I reworked the boxes on the right - adding more and letting them fade off that side of the canvas. And the people on board the ship have started to appear. --- A few more people, the name of the ship and the finishing details to the cargo hoist and I think this one will be done, another day or two at the most. And that would complete the set. Then on to assembling the frames and getting them hung!