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| My studio sketchbook showing the original (photo copy enlarged from a 3"x3" photo) and the design sketch on the right. |
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| Again my studio sketchbook and the drawing painted in with watercolor for study of value and color harmony. |
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| Here's the almost complete 6' x 4' oil on canvas painting. |
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| Now the painting has reached the final stages of completion. |
I haven't yet settled on title for this new piece that I've been working on all summer. I consider it the final painting in the extensive "Memories of an Era" body of work. I thought I had completed the series, but because as with many narratives, there is always more to say, and thus more to paint. Well, the last of the paintings was completed in 2006, I thought.
I decided to revisit my family history and stories from my childhood as I began researching family photos for the final portrait for
"Portraits of American Veterans Project" and realized there was one more image, one more thing I wanted to say about "Memories", and that is the painting above. My concept is that it will connect it to PAVP at a profoundly meaningful level.
The final painting for PAVP will be of my Dad. The last photos taken of him were in 1990-91 so I have to search for the best "recent" photo and then include the many images of him at age 15 at Paris Island in Marine Corps boot camp, at age 17 after his service in WWII, at age 21 after his service in Korea at age 35 while in-country Vietnam and finally at his retirement at age 45 after 30 years in the Marine Corps. Semper fi Dad, I'll do you proud when I finally complete this project of a lifetime.
The hardest things we do in life sometimes take the longest.
