Still in the Fight

For the past month I've been very busy with a project called Still in the Fight. SITF is a musical off shoot of my series of three articles this past March in the New York Times and the Joe Bonham Project. The music director for Still in the Fight is Mike Corrado, and the co-artists are Victor Juhasz and Robert Bates. I collaborated with Max Uriarte, creator of the totally viral Terminal Lance phenomena on the official logo, which you see above.

Please go by our SITF Facebook page, and Indie-Go-Go fund raising site.

The Joe Bonham Project and Still in the Fight

Over the past couple weeks I've been very focused on two related projects, the Joe Bonham Project and Still in the Fight. The former is a partnership between the International Society of War Artists and the Society of Illustrators. The latter is a partnership between the Joe Bonham Project and a group of Nashville musicians led by Mike Corrado. Together, we are raising money for a Nashville recording session and a video to go with the song, Still in the Fight, being penned by Mike. Mike has already written several outstanding songs about the experiences of our warriors in the Global War on Terrorism: On My Watch Tonight, Stand and Lucky One.

In order to finance Still in the Fight we've set up a site where folks can donate. We've got a bunch of great perks for different levels of giving. The donation site is http://www.indiegogo.com/Still-in-the-Fight

This past week I was out in Colorado Springs covering the second annual Warrior Games. So far, as a war artist, I've embedded with and covered Marines in combat, in surgical trauma wards, and rehabilitation centers. Going to the Warrior Games brings my art full circle, covering our fully recovered warriors, some still on active duty and others medically retired, competing at a world-class Paralympic level at the US Olympic Committee Training Center in Colorado Springs. Stand by for art and stories of these exceptional Americans.

Fellow War Artist Back in Afghanistan

My good friend and fellow war artist, Richard Johnson, is back in Afghanistan doing war art for Canada's National Post newspaper. I was going to travel with him, but my wife Janis got word she'll be deploying to Afghanistan. Her mobilization starts in early May, so my trip had to take a back seat. Please check out Richard's work at his Kandahar Journal blog.

Janis is a sergeant first class in the Virginia National Guard. Her area of military expertise is civil affairs. I've met with her combat brigade's deputy commander and their public affairs' officer, and as a result I'm looking forward to embedding with them at least twice once they're in country. Their 116th Combat Brigade will be a joint command, with American, Australian, Romanian and Afghan forces.

The Joe Bonham Project

A couple weeks ago I had a series of three pieces about wounded warriors published on the New York Times' Opinionator website. The series garnered attention from the United Kingdom's Guardian newspaper and Fox News. Another result of this exposure is the interest fellow artists have in honoring our service members with their art. The result is something we're calling the Joe Bonham Project. Rather than explain where the name comes from, I invite you to click on the link and stop by our blog and read for yourself. Thanks.

Forty Years Later Than Planned

Yours truly at the corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets in San Francisco

For all of last week, and up to Wednesday of this week, I was in San Francisco. The first week was spent with my MFA in Illustration class. We met a ton of great artists and were treated to a tour of the Lucasfilm studios located aboard the former Presidio military base. Some of the artists who gave us talks and interacted with were Bill Russell, Chuck S. Pyle, Courtney Granner, Craig Frazier, Dennis Zieminski, Lou Brooks, Noah Kiosek, Vivienne Flesher, and Robert Hunt

I also got to finally meet my agent, Katie Boyle, and my co-author, Don DeNevi.

But the big event was finally making it, after forty long years, to the corner of Haight and Ashbury Streets, ground zero of my high school years' dreams of being a hippie. Strange irony then, that on the same day of this photo, I was featured on Fox and Friends, and interviewed about a series of mine called Still in the Fight featured last week by the New York Times. I was also interviewed on Minnesota Public Radio (eat your heart out Garrison Keeler) and had the drawings and articles reviewed in Great Britain's Guardian Newspaper.

Not a bad week after forty years.

A Worthy Cause

I want to thank all the Guardian and New York Times readers who are stopping by. Here's an organization that you may want to donate to. Sew Much Comfort. The 500 plus volunteer seamstresses have made over 90,000 custom made articles of clothes since 2004 for our recovering service members.

Welcome to Guardian Readers

In The Shadow of the Poppy Harvest, oil on canvas, 2011

I want to thank all the readers of the Guardian for stopping by. I hope you take the time to check out my other art and ramblings. Cheers!

Welcome to Opinionator Readers

To all the readers of the New York Times Opinionator website, welcome. I hope you'll take the time to go back through my postings since my tour to Iraq in 2005. You'll find some personal rants, battlefield reports and general musings from my time in both the studio and out in combat.

Wounded Warriors

Corporal Zachary Stinson

Lance Corporal Kyle Carpenter

Lance Corporal Tyler Huffman

Last Thursday and Friday, fellow war artist Richard Johnson and myself, visited with and sketched battle wounded Marines recovering at McGuire Veterans Administration Hospital in Richmond, Virginia. For two days we followed three Marines as they relaxed with family and friends, and endured sessions of painful physical therapy.

Only one word is adequate to describe these young men....Courageous.

In his poem Invictus, William Ernest Henley put it perfectly:

In the fell clutch of circumstance

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

My head is bloody, but unbowed.

You can see Richard's work and read about our visit at Canada's National Post.

Gone Too Long

Sorry for being gone for so long. Since my last posting in September I got married. I'll post pictures very shortly of Janis and my wedding at the National Museum of the Marine Corps this past 10/10/10.

I've been very busy with a number of projects. Other than being a newly wed, my number one priority is my Masters of Fine Arts in Illustration program with the University of Hartford. Here's one of my projects, an interpretation of a Collier's magazine cover in the style of J. C. Leyendecker. A fellow MFA student is originally from Russia, and assures me I could have gotten a job of doing Lenin paintings full time.

I've also been working on a set of oil paintings for the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation based on my trip to Afghanistan last June. Myself and fellow war artist Richard Johnson, are planning a trip back to cover the Marines in Helmand Province during the month of April. The New York Times Opinionator website is going to carry my art, photos and dispatches again. Richard's work will appear in the National Post of Canada.

In the Shadow of the Opium Harvest, Helmand.

Here's one of my oil paintings in progress. The title is going to be "In the Shadow of the Opium Harvest". It shows a Marine dog handler and his dog resting in the shade at high noon next to a pile of dried poppy stalks. During my June trip to Helmand Province, the Marines were being rocketed all day. The rockets were Chinese, new and freshly purchased with opium profits.