City Reborn-Original

18 x 24 x .75 Acrylic on stretched canvas

As a combat veteran, days such as Memorial Day, Veterans Day, and Patriot Day mean a great deal to me. For me, it is not flag waving and chants of USA, though. They are somber days, days of remembrance for the people who have died in service or risked death in service to us. These are our sons and daughters, our siblings, our brothers and sisters. They loved. They had families, pets. They had laughs that stick with their families like shadows. They are lost stars in somebody's universe. And they deserve to be remembered.

I began painting this piece and its sister piece, City Aflame on the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. By 2021, I was honestly just beginning to recover from my 16 year career in defense. So while I wanted to convey the hurt and fear of war in City Aflame, I also wanted to acknowledge the healing of the people and the country. I did that with City Reborn which features New York City reconstruction, the flag hoisted on construction cranes with the Freedom Tower visible in the background.