Iraq part 1 Where I found my inspiration (Spring 2003)

Well at least the large scale art and full color pieces. I was on deployment to Iraq just as the city fell in 2003, we moved around a bit and finally settled into our little area. Myself and my guys scored a former servants hut, it was ok, all the wall fixtures, toilets, sinks etc where ripped out by looters prior to our arrival. It worked well enough for us and it had nice clean white walls.

My wife sent me several hundred permanent markers and highlighters. I used all of the free time I had to make my geometric designs. Creating art really allowed me to square my mind away for the important work I had to do. My guys were very successful and all of them came home alive.

The inspiration that I was blessed with on that deployment stuck with me and finally in the spring of 2007, I found new ways to translate the inspiration and visions that I was having using new mediums for me paint, first acrylics, then oils and now a combination of the two. My techniques are getting tighter, and my focus remains on getting the visions in my head on to the canvas.

I'm going to include some pictures of me in Iraq and the house we lived in, it will be in the next two posts.

with aloha,

Todd