"Opening" Reflections

WHAT A NIGHT!

The Iraq War: An Artist's Journey at the Bea Paines Gallery has become quite a sensation for me. I have never recieved such a large crowd for an opening, we had somewhere between 80 to 100 people! I know that Jody and Vicki Queen - who sponsored the opening reception - prepared food for about 100 people and most of it was consumed! The Gallery floor was filled with people and there was a point where I didn't even know over three-quarters of the crowd! It was such an exciting night. Now that the buzz is wearing off I can finally give a clear reflection on the night and my feelings about how the show went.

To begin with, if you are an artist and you have a show opening for a specifically advertised date you better get your ducks in a row before then otherwise you'll be like me! :) LOL! I am probably the only artist who was still hanging placards for the paintings as the show was in full swing. Yet, it was not fatal or bad but that just illustrates how stressed out and busy I was throughout the day.

Luckily I have a great team of supporters and a wonderful wife, Dana (danafrech.blogspot.com), who pushed me and encouraged my show. Members of the art club - Joey Waltz, Jessica Looney, Bethany Blankenship, Katie Peters, my wife Dana and Mr. Shroyer all ran around trying to do last minute details! I really want to make a shout out to Bethany and Jessica for their awesome advice for the layout of the show! I thought their advice was spot on! We got to the gallery around 3:30pm and didn't finish hanging until 5:00pm about one hour before the opening started!

Just after getting the last piece up we had started getting visitors! I quickly rushed home to pick up some last minute items and Dana as well - thanks Jessica for taking her home! After running around we made it to the show at 5:47pm and WVVA - our local NBC affiliate - was already there. As I walked in I saw Pete Sternloff, a Bronze Star Recipient in Vietnam, in tears! He was crying and said that he was "moved" and that "this show could be hung up in New York or anywhere" and that it needs "to be seen by everyone." I've never heard such a great compliment. Next was Debbie Bowling who hugged me and then Gary Bowling, both said they were deeply moved and tears were welling up in their eyes!

The reaction of my viewers to the show had moved me and made me realize that I had done something that I haven't done with my shows before: move an audience. So why this time? I think the answer: I worked from my heart first to tell a message that I kept bottled up inside of me.

Pete Sternloff and I at the show in front of the painting "Young Lovers"

Then WVVA interviewed me! I was so excited and the video above gives a great view of the show and the pictures below tell the rest of the story:

WVVA interviewing me at the opening!

This show was packed!

To a successful night!

Summer Paintings

Admittedly I have been lazy this summer and have been relaxing more than working. However that did not mean that I achieved absolutely nothing. While sitting back sipping coffee and watching a lot of soccer games I managed to get some journaling in and came up with some ideas for three new paintings, well at least two are but the third one was a re-attempt to make the original idea better.

Down Time, Oil on Canvas 16 x 20

The above painting is called Down Time and I did this painting as a way of show the general public that even in a growing secular society that troops still turn to God for guidance and protection. This is not intended to be a sweet little picture but a portrayal of an event I witnessed and would like make tribute to.

During my seven months in Iraq SrA Jared Moore and myself created a Bible Group/Life Group that was intended to help us and our other airman to unify in God's Word on a weekly basis. Some mornings we would gather to pray outside of the armory off to ourselves. This painting is meant to capture one of those mornings. In most other paintings like these you would see a dove, a bright light from above or some other Religious object but I did not want to include these because I want you the viewer to see it as I did. The dark background is there to help bring focus to the airman and to help accentuate the feeling of "darkness" around us. This is what we did in our Down Time.

Dear Rose Marie, Oil on Canvas 16 x 20

One of my best friends in Iraq was SrA Fidel Nunez who was from the Dominican Republic and I took a photo of him writing a letter home to his wife Rosa Marie - hence the title Dear Rosa Marie. I wanted to not only just show an airman writing home but again I wanted to create a contemporary spin on it.

In past paintings done by famous painters I usually find a lot of these "heroic" images and these super macho types who either win a battle or if they are doing a simple "letter home" they are either crying or they look like a typical soldier with blonde hair and blue eyes writing home to Sally. I don't know why but I get tired of those and think we are in a new era where other ethnicities are left out of the loop.

In this image I wanted to portray Nunez of the Dominican Republic to show that there are other races involved in this war and they, too, have people at home who love them. They are also fighting for this country and everytime I hear people cry "send them home" I want to show them this image.

Out of the Ashes, Oil on Canvas 16 x 20

This painting has been attempted before by me and I was happy with the original concept but I was not pleased with my execution. So I wanted to try this again and I wanted to use a background that indicated a dark past and a better future. With a title Out of the Ashes I think it is clear to see that in this image the viewer will get a sense of a man who once went to war and through it all came out being a better person.

For me that statement couldn't any further from the truth. I once was a person with a secure job at a fortune 500 company making a good income while serving part time in the National Guard. However that part time job was becoming something of a full time position with six call-ups to Active Duty between 09/11/01 to 06/28/07 for a grand total of three culmulative years of active service.

The left side of the painting represents a point in my life where I had surrendered my dreams and left my ambitions aside so that I could maintain an income, keep my job and work for retirement. However, I hated both jobs: the military and working in sales. Yet it took seven months in a war zone for me to 'wake up' and see what my true potential, ambition and passion for life really was.

The right side is who I am now and indicates a sense of direction and more life. I have more red in my cheeks and sunlight on my face as I leave the ashes in background behind as I head towards where I am suppose to be: practicing art in a studio!