Pinup/Bomber Girls

I've been working on an idea for a while that would re-create the 40's, war-era pinup girl. These were popular with the soldiers and found their way onto bombers, posters and tattoos. They are iconic and classic. My take on this will be a modernized version of those beautiful, voluptuousness ladies. I want to capture the style and classiness but make it more relevant to today's military. The women I see modeling for this have that classic, even retro look but might also carry some more modern amendments (EG tattoos and piercings). The Suicide Girls would be the easiest way to explain I'm looking for.

And when it comes to an audience for this painting, I can't help but think of the Ranks (Junior Ranks Club). I need to have a painting to donate to the club (and still need a patron for this one) so it would seem to be a good fit.

Finding beautiful women to model for the painting was pretty straight forward thanks to social networking (thanks everybody). I have some very talented candidates and even though my go-to photographer has moved off, his friend Carlos from the Art of Headshots has offered his services. Now I just need to source out some kit for the ladies to wear and set up the shoot.

Note that I haven't actually asked the Ranks if they would want this painting but the subject is a scantily clad model so I'm pretty sure they'll like it fine. Come to think if it, I'd better double varnish it before giving it to them...

10 Most Deadly Things

This quick little watercolor is based on a viral poster that describes the 5 most dangerous things in the military. You've probably already seen it but if not you can find it here. I can relate to the Warrant Officer's "watch this..." one on many levels. Mine is called 10 Most Deadly Things because there are quite a few missing from the list including the RSM's "Back in my day this is how we did it...".

I also really liked the image and thought I'd try it out using watercolors. Its pretty iconic and a bit hackneyed but the composition is sound. I filmed the whole thing and posted it for your viewing pleasure.

Defining Moments

This week I received a letter from the Canadian Forces Artist Program (CFAP). I've applied to them as the official program to gain access as artist to Canadian Forces, world-wide. Every year for the last 8 years they have selected 8-12 Canadian artists to be deployed with the military. They go on exercises, spend time on bases all over Canada and have even gone to Afghanistan for weeks at a time. This program was restarted in June of 2001 to re-invigorate the War Artist program started during WWI by Lord Beaverbrook. These people are the real Canadian War Artists and I've had the opportunity to meet and chat with a few of them. They are painters, photographers, poets, filmographers and playwrights. Unlike me, they are all full time, professionals who don't focus on the military as subject. When they are accepted into the program they commit to provide a body of work based on their exposure to the military and Afghanistan. This work is centralized at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa and some also goes on tour across Canada. Their work can be gritty, honest and un-muzzled. Unfortunately, I won't be joining their ranks.


Its a great program and even though I was a bit deflated by the rejection, some army buddies reminded me again about why I took this on (and more importantly, why THEY backed me). My project is focused on documenting soldiers for soldiers. My own ego aside, they are the ones who sponsored me to go to Afghanistan and they are the ones who will benefit from the paintings. Even now, my pieces are starting to find their way into messes and regimental museums. Insha'allah, by the end of the project (and my time on this little green globe), every mess in Canada will sport one of my pieces. So even though my paintings might not ever hang in a gallery in Ottawa, I'm ok with the company they'll keep.

Speaking of which, this one above is a quick watercolor study of the bigger piece I'm working on. This is Sgt. Mike Scott who was also a big supporter morally, logistically and physically. I'm hoping this piece will eventually find its way to his mess.

Hand Grenades

I have to admit I have a deep-seated fondness for the common hand grenade. Even its name and history evoke a sense of wonder and awe. It was the French in the 1590's who devised the first of these little beauties and dubbed them "pomegranate" or "pomegrenate" from which "grenade" is derived from. If you believe Wiki then its the pomegranate's shape and seeding (or in the case of a grenade, shrapnel) that brought about the naming.

Don't get me wrong, as a means of killing, maiming and otherwise disposing of somebody, the hand grenade is a wicked and cruel device. Its indiscriminate and has a nasty habit of biting its handlers. Still, the boy inside me laughed with glee the first time I tossed a hand grenade some 25 years ago, during my basic training. I've tossed many since (high, low, short and long) and there still resides a sense of awe and respect for the devices. Design wise, they are simple, perfectly ergonomic and almost Apple like in their clean lines. Unlike other soldier tools, the grenade is very un-complicated and for the most part unchanged over the last 100 years: pull pin, throw and 3-5 seconds later, kaboom! As a tool for the infantry, they are indisputable in their value on the battlefield. Alleyways, rooms and holes are all sanitized by first tossing in a grenade. But as mentioned, the hand grenade cannot tell the difference between friend, foe or a small child and its for that reason that soldiers are so restrictive on their use.


Useful, wicked and beautiful. It was these attributes that attracted me to the idea of doing a series on the hand grenade. My intent is to treat each version with a different medium and allow the mediums to empower the attributes. Broken tile and pottery, neon lights and collage are a few ideas pinging around in my head. And they have to be big. Real big.

Ground Support Work in Progress

One of the main goals of this project was to capture and represent my friends and colleagues who have served overseas. So many friends have committed and sacrificed their time, sweat and even their blood in places like the mountainous Balkans and the sandpits of central Asia. Mike Scott is one of those guys who has seen and done it all.

Mike started his career at the Royal Westminster Regiment and has served pretty much all over the world. He has been a huge backer of my project and provided both material and logistical support. It was his body armor Shaun and I wore in country and he got us access to areas we normally would have been shunned from. Most importantly his insight into the war, Canada's involvement and the humor of the entire mission was absolutely key to getting the full picture.

Mike also has the coooooolest job in the Infantry. Mike is a door gunner on a Griffon helicopter. As mentioned in a previous post, Mike spent time with us and allowed Shaun to take some great photos. These photos are being used on my current piece which I'm tentatively calling 'Ground Support'.



I'm also incorporating some of Shaun's brilliant prose into this painting. In fact, he's written a piece specifically about Mike and his high-speed job:

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Turning and turning
High overhead,
The Falcon,
Fierce, patient

Awaiting the falconer….

And when he calls
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world

The guns o' the enemy wheel into line…

What fury be called,
When our word
Is the ‘breath of Allah’

Shaun James O'Mara,
copywrite 2011

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reports and Returns

Last week I started turning in my kit to the regiment. I've seen enough people perform this exercise in front the Regimental Quartermaster to know the routine but it still felt very... wrong? Maybe just weird.

I also have been working on an idea of incorporating more 'experiential' subjects into my paintings. This is an idea I've had for a while where the painting is less allegorical and more blatant. I think it might be crude and not very subtle, but its worth exploring. I seem to be doing a lot of that on this project. The story is simple and maybe a bit overplayed. Its about a soldier deployed who is working on his reports and has a recent letter from his wife open on his desk. In fact, the entire tableau is his desk: a map, reports and returns, his side-arm and a photo of his wife. Everything is in black and white expect the photo of the wife.


I say this is a bit hackneyed and out of date because with Afghanistan, the soldiers can pretty much talk to their family whenever they want. They get set time for calls, there is skype, email, Facebook and to be honest most of the people we talked to said they're in constant contact with their family. I guess, if anything, this painting will be an homage to that time before communication became so easy and readily available. And, despite the easy access to loved ones, the same old problems still exist: breakups, sickness, debt, bad report cards. As with any other war, small problems from home have a way of magnifying as they travel the distance between there and deployment. Maybe its that constant awareness that causes some of the stress (ignorance is bliss). These small problems cause huge hurt to the people who cannot just get on a plane to come home to deal with it. No, they have to stay on task and live with it. But some soldiers cannot always find ways to live with these stresses and thankfully, even less find the solution at the end of their side-arm.

Images on Walls

Its now been a couple months since coming home from Afghanistan and the real world (the life I live outside of painting) has caught up to me fast. New jobs, new places, new people and many of the same old stresses in life: paying mortgages, bills, kids school and a host of issues that challenge ones grip on what is normal in life. And that is normal I guess.

I have dreamed of Afghanistan (or something like it) a couple of times and I catch myself reminiscing about the place . Kind of sick for sure because there is little about the country that endears itself to me. While it has not invaded my dreams in any troubling ways I have found it to enter my thoughts quite a bit. In my job I have to come up with creative ways to solve problems for the businesses that employ me. Whether its solving a problem with a painting or a software process I start by just letting my mind wander... not hard for me as I tend to daydream constantly (even writing this I drifted off a few times :) I turn off my mind, clear it of thoughts or distractions and eventually images and ideas will form from very mundane subjects. Clouds, concrete walls, carpet or whatever is in front of me at the time. At work, I look out the window and stare at the wall across form my office downtown and odd visuals come into play. Lately, even when I'm working on a specific business process sometime the afghan imagery slips its way into my day. Islamic graffiti on walls (5th floor walls albeit), soldiers faces made out of snakes and landscapes.... so many landscapes. Some of these I need to jot down because I think I might use them. Some are a little dark and I'm not sure how or why I'd want to paint them.

All of them remind me that I still have unfinished work.