Another Work in Progress

The Corner Office

When I was in Iraq, drawing and painting, one of the things that continually fascinated me was the youth of the marines I saw, and also the working conditions these marines faced day-to-day-- those "obscene amenities" once mentioned... (I know it's cliche to say "they're just kids", but the older I get the younger 20 years old seems!)

At one outpost near Saqlawiyah, I met some marines from "G" Co of the 2nd Bn, 8th Marines, as they were on post guarding an intersection at their Outpost...

These marines had to sit in this guard shack, a little plywood creation on stilts (crude but ingenious) and watch for insurgents who would do them or the local citizenry harm. They were good-natured kids, and I talked to them and took pictures of them while they worked.

I also did a quick sketch of it while I was there, and cut it short due to a fear (i.e. rational concern!) of snipers. I had to do the scene in oil when I returned home, it was such an interesting place.

Here are the preliminary underpaintings/color block-ins of this piece, a Tryptich I call "The Corner Office" (I'll post more photos as the project progresses):

I'm painting them in what I call a Schmidian fashion, after the famous painter Richard Schmid, who has a way of simply and beautifully rendering detail in a painting. I don't know if these paintings will end up beautiful, but I hope the subject will at least be beautifully rendered!