Day of Departure

In addition to visiting with the artist Joe Kubert Tuesday Sergeant Battles and I covered the mobilization and departure ceremony of Gulf Company, 2nd Battalion, 25th Marine Regiment. The Reserve Marines of G/2/25 departed their homebase at Picatinny Arsenal for the Marine Corps base at 29 Palms, California. At 29 Palms they'll train for about 4 months before going to Iraq.

The festivities for the Gulf Company Marines and their loved ones started at 0600. The Marine Corps League had coffee and donuts waiting for the hundreds of friends and relatives who showed up in a light rain to send their Marines off.

A Day With Joe Kubert

Myself with DC comic book artist and creator of Sergeant Rock, Joe Kubert

I had the great honor yesterday of meeting one of the greatest influences on my art. As a kid I loved DC comic's Sergeant Rock. Hours of time and reams of paper were used up trying to copy Rock and the men of Easy Company. The creator of Sgt. Rock is Joe Kubert and yesterday Sergeant Battles and I got to visit with him at his art school in Dover, New Jersey.

The gritty quality of the Sergeant Rock tales combined with Kubert's virtuoso draftsmanship and expressive inking left a deep mark on my artistic sensibilities. No one in the comic book universe can even approach the intensity of Kubert's faces.

Memorial Day

Memorial Service, Afghanistan-May 2005

Gloam and Gloom

Now that the sculpture I worked on for months is at the foundry I've been able to start a new three-dimensional piece and pick up on several paintings. The new sculpture is a composite of experiences of both wounded and killed-in-action Marines. More than once I've seen Marines gently cradling the head of a buddy as a corpsman works feverishly. I also share with you a painting of two leathernecks setting in for the night just after sunset under a rising moon surrounded by the beautiful hills and fields of eastern Afghanistan.

On to the Foundry

Gulf 240 Machine Gunner sculpture prepped for transportation to foundry.

My latest sculpture is now at the foundry getting readied for casting. It stands 25" high. Although it's hard to make out, the base of the work has etched along each of the four edges the names of major locations in Iraq where Marines have served. The National Museum of the Marine Corps is planning an initial "artist's proof" series of six.