It's All in the Wrist

I've been painting with gusto lately, trying to explore the border between abstraction and realism in painting, as well as trying to increase my vocabulary regarding texture and surface.

he subject I've been utilizing is perfect for this, which is Haiti (You may recall that I recently deployed to Haiti for Operation Unified Response, the humanitarian assistance action following the devastating earthquake in January).

Haiti is full of the rough and smooth, the dingy and brilliant, frenetic and restful... it is a land of extremes, and thus, as I've been trying to get more expressive with my "mark making" and brushwork, I've found that my photos and sketches from Haiti are good source material.

Here are some process photos to give a glimpse into technique:

Step One: After the sketch, I applied an Imprimatura, a toned wash/glaze.

Next Step: I began Blocking In basic color, starting with the trees and sky...(I used  a big brush to force me to be more loose, and I also used the palette knife... 

Further Steps: I began defining edges with tonal darks (this will help keep the drawing going during future layers)...

Texture and Form: I applied paint thickly in some areas, and glazy and thin in others, and alternated using brush and palette knife...

(here is the progress from May 26 2010)

Here is another little oil sketch on paper. the subject is a Haitian boy watching our activity from a tree, as other Haitians gather and pick up bags of rice at a Distribution Point in Carrefour.  One thing to note is the fact that less can be more as far as brushwork is concerned-- that is, one stroke well and quickly applied, can say a lot more than several slow, tight strokes. I also made sure that some of the underpainting could show through and that the texture of the paper could help depict foliage...

I'll  post more photos tomorrow, as these works progress to completion.  More to come...!

UPDATE 26 May 2010: Here's the finished product!

(It's hard to see the depth because of the glare on the surface glazes...)

(A detail of the kid's face).

Glory!

While at Marine Week in Boston, I finally got to see the Colonel Robert Gould Shaw Memorial to the 54th Massachusetts Regiment, near the State House and Boston Commons.

Face of the monument, across the street from the State House

Reverse side of the monument, facing the Commons

A work of true Glory it is!

I'd seen the plaster duplicate at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, along with the great portrait head studies that Mr. Saint-Gaudens did from live models.

This Sculpture took monuments to another level-- a tour guide I met up with there told the crowd there that this was to be his "leader on a horse" sculpture, but he wanted to memorialize the unit as well as the leader.

The sculpture is bas relief, but has in-the-round elements as well. Some of the rifles, the main figure and horse also, are almost completely separate from the background. 

The composition is full of energy and movement, and the faces show intense emotion --even the horse has an expression! An interesting part that the tour guide pointed out is that the soldiers to a man show resolute commitment to their cause, and a firm determination to reach their destination and gain the victory.

The horse shows fear and trepidation, however, as if he didn't sign on to what's about to happen!

Another very intriguing thing about the sculpture is the angelic lady at the top of the image, floating above the action, watching over them and urging them on.

She has been called Lady Liberty, and also Victory-- and yet she's not so easy to decipher.

She carries laurels which represent Victory, yet she also holds poppies which represent blood and Sacrifice (they're slightly hidden and more subtle than the laurels). Her expression is forlorn, as if she knows the coming deaths which will shake the regiment before victory is fully realized-- yet she must urge them on. She thus represents Victory through Sacrifice, and the idea that Liberty isn't free.

The entire monument is an experience in itself. Take the time to go see this monument if you can; whether the original in Boston, or the copy in the National Gallery in DC.

It is not only a breathtaking work of art, but also a great monument to the American struggle for Liberty, and a poignant statement about the human spirit in the face of war and sacrifice.

Marine Week Boston

Marine Week was held in Boston from the 2nd through 9th of May.

I was there with a group of Marines representing the National Museum of the Marine Corps, showcasing the Museum with a static display which featured Marine Corps history, Combat Art, and a video explaining the NMMC and the Marine Corps itself.

Most of the time I was in a WWII period Marine Uniform, the utilities with leggings and the steel pot...

(L to R) Cpl Miller as Continental Marine, SSgt Rapoza as WWI Marine, Me as WWII, and Sgt Bustamante as Vietnam

Cpl Miller needs a chaperon as he wishes to court the lady...

A static display, the "Triple Seven" 155mm Howitzer

It was quite a time. There were static displays for people to see, and Marines from the local Marine Reserve units where demonstrating and answering questions.  They had LAVs, "Triple Sevens", all sorts of small arms, an Osprey or two at various locations for people to climb aboard. The Albany Marine Band played several times, and the Marine Corps Silent Drill Platoon performed as well (once interrupted by a severe and sudden hail storm!)...

One honor I had was to have some of my artwork on display at the USS Constitution Museum at the Navy Yard in Boston... I got to talk to people looking at the work, and on the 5th of May there was a reception, where I got to speak as the guest artist. I was thrilled to have the opportunity.

I got to see and go aboard the USS Constitution-- it was like being a kid again! They showed us the whole ship, to include parts that civilians can't go in usually. For a history buff and proud American, it was an incredible thing to experience.

Hey, what year is this, anyway?!(No,  Mom-- we're not having severe budget cuts in uniforms and equipment!)

Every once in a while I was able to sketch the happenings-- though it was a real difficulty, due to wind & weather, as well as nice citizens coming around to chat me up...!

I also had the honor and privilege of going to Harvard to have some of my art on display for a day at the Forum in the John F. Kennedy School of Government.  (click to view the article in Marines.mil)


Sgt. Kristopher J. Battles, the combat artist with the National Museum of the Marine Corps, talks to retired Army Brig. Gen. Kevin T. Ryan, the senior fellow of the John F. Kennedy School of Government for Harvard University, about his art, May 5, 2010. , Cpl. Alicia R. Giron, 5/5/2010 9:56 AM

Awarded for Combat Art

 Last Saturday night, I was honored to be invited to the Marine Corps Heritage Foundation's 2010 Awards Dinner, where I  was selected to receive the Colonel John W. Thomason, Jr. Award for combat art, specifically for my work from deployments to Afghanistan and Haiti.

It's a huge honor, and something that I will be proud of years from now when I look back at my time as a combat artist. To be honored for doing the best you can at what you are called to do, and what you love to do, is truly rewarding.

What We Do

I was reading excerpts from the PBS program, They Drew Fire, and was once again refreshed in my combat artist's spirit, in drinking from the source well of Marine Combat Art-- the writings of Brigadier General Robert L. Denig, Director of Public Relations for the United States Marine Corps in World War II.

He was the creator of the first iteration of the Marine Corps Combat Art Program, which was part of his "Denig's Demons"--  photographers, journalists and artists recruited and trained as Marines, and put into the action to record reality on the front lines.

In describing the purpose for his new Program, he stated:

"Art at any time is food for spiritual growth. The centuries have proved it so. At peace or at war, man cannot live by bread alone. A special case for art in time of war may be made, for it is then that man's spiritual, as well as physical, being is most severely in need of sustaining strength. Whatever provides the people good cheer, material for reflection and inspiration is an essential contribution to a nation's total effort. This is a people's war. The people want to know, need to know, and have a right to know, what is going on."

Gen. Denig also addressed the value of an artist vs a photographer (perhaps even then the photograph was on the ascendancy, and people may have been wondering why the artist was necessary):

" The combat photographer must snap his picture of an action as it happens. If he is busy taking part in the action, as he so often is; if it happens so fast he is unable to adjust his camera in time; if conditions are not good, the action is never recorded- and the picture is never made. The artist, on the other hand, with his photographic eye, can take part in the action, and then paint any moment of it from memory at his leisure.  The painter can provide his own lighting; he can give a picture any degree of intensity he desires. He can reconstruct a scene from whatever angle he considers most dramatic, centering attention wherever he wishes."

These artists, photographers and journalists called "Denig's Demons" provided vital information to the public during the war. The American people also gained a large collection of rich and dramatic imagery which gave them a no-frills picture of a difficult and necessary war-- and perhaps the art gave the nation the "good cheer, material for reflection and inspiration" it was so desperately needing.

We combat artists today hope to walk in their boots.

Sharing the Courage

Since last fall, I've been working with the folks at HQMC PAO,  who asked me to help them create a series of graphic illustration pages, which tell the true heroic stories of Marines who have been decorated for valor. The series is titled "Sharing the Courage-- Stories of Marine Corps Heroism".

We just sent off the second one to be published, and it details the heroism of Cpl Jonathan Yale and LCpl Jordan Haerter, who stood their ground in the face of death and saved the lives of 100 people at Joint Security Station Nasser in Ramadi, Iraq in April 2008.

Here is the art, which we have formatted to be similar to a graphic novel (without looking too "comicky"), so that young Marines and people in the culture can be informed and inspired by the actions of real life heroes.

For more information on what happened that day in Ramadi, go here.

This project has made me better appreciate how, even in this day and age, there are still regular Joes, who when put in dangerous and trying situations, come out as honest-to-goodness heroes.

More Haiti Art

I was able to find a large enough scanner to scan in two of the bigger watercolors I did when I was down in Haiti in February!

The first watercolor is of an old wreck at Carrefour, where the Marines of the 22nd MEU had their BLT 3/2 CP --"LZ Argonaut" it was designated.  Specifically, the painting depicts a helo- a "Huey"- heading out from LZ Argonaut, passing above the old wreck of a boat, the victim of some past hurricane or tropical storm, while Haitian children play on its deck and swing from its ropes (a mercy ship and an Italian aircraft carrier are also visible in the background):

The second image depicts a Marine providing security near Distribution Point 16 in Carrefour, Haiti.

One of the Shanty towns that sprang up after the Jan 12th earthquake is also featured (poverty like this really is breathtaking):

In a Past Life at Belleau Wood...

...I was on the wrong side of history! 

I was just sent some photos of the cast figures for the upcoming Belleau Wood Immersion which will open in June 2010 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps.

Last year, we were cast by Taylor Studios to be in the Museum's new exhibits... and now they are nearing completion.

I was cast full-figure as one of the dead German machine gunners from Belleau Wood, who stayed to fight the Marines, and ended up the way shown...

Me in Fiberglass as a dead German at Belleau Wood in June 1918

I'm on the left, as the dead assistant gunner, and Mike Fay is on the right as the dead machine gunner

Look at the detail-- down to mud on the uniform and blood on the face, chest and hands.

Lesson-- never get on the wrong side of United States Marines!

To Paint a Picture of a Country

What an experience.

While I was thrilled to be back in a country I grew to love when I was a missionary there (1999-2001), I was of course shocked and saddened by the new horrific state of the infrastructure of Haiti.

Dilapidation and lack of sanitation were normal parts of the nation before the earthquake of 12 January-- but to see whole buildings collapsed on every block of Carrefour and Port-au-Prince is something hard to describe, and emotionally beyond comprehension.

Yet the Haitian people are a strong and resolute people, and they were very similarly disposed in attitude as they were when I was there before in their normal devastating poverty...! I mean, on the outside they were almost back to normal a month beyond the quake-- though on the inside I'm sure they all have bigger demons to deal with now.

The Marines were there to provide security, and it seemed on the ground that they were very welcome.
If some had their way, according to what I heard there, they would've had us for longer!

Here are some of the sketches and watercolors I did while there:

Marines guard the BLT HQ compound in Carrefour, in a scene that normally would be on a brochure!

a sign on the beach where Marines were bivouaced...

Quick studies in ink, rapidly trying to record details  before people moved!

("It's heavy! Let's Go! Don't block the way! Don't stay there.. go now!")

"Rapid Fire" gesture drawings as people moved quickly at the Distribution Point...

A sketch of a UN soldier watching crowds gather across the street from Distribution Point in Carrefour.

Back from Haiti!

"Point, Counter Point" At the wall at LZ Argonaut in Carrefour, Haiti

I arrived back "in CONUS" late last night, after two weeks Haiti deployed to Operation Unified Response.

We took a helicopter from the USS Bataan off the coast of Haiti, to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where after two days of changing schedules and last-minute cancelled flights, we finally got a plane to Baltimore.

(More to come on the sights, the sounds, the smells, and the colors of Haiti-- and the Marines who were sent to help her...)