Martin Luther King, Jr. & Thich Nhat Hanh

Another graphic for the "America Loves Vietnam" page. I'd love to see a book written on the friendship between these two men. This video interview with Thich Nhat Hanh, by Oprah Winfrey, is one of the best sources I've found on their friendship.

a late winter's visit to the Vietnam Memorial Wall

Alfred G. Sapp (name here at upper center left in first photo) served with my father in Vietnam. In the second photo one can see the reflections of myself and one of my best friends reflected in our visit to the Wall. The bottom photo shows me near the 'entryway' to the sidewalk which approaches the Wall from the Lincoln Memorial side. This was my second visit to the Wall. The first was in March 1994, with my father. 

simple sketch

Dry spell

As any follower of my blog can see, I've not been very active in posting these past two years. Neither have I been so active in creating art in general. The illness and death of a parent can tend to have such an effect on one's life. In my case, I think this has been greatly amplified by the fact that there are so many things that I don't know, and indeed that the children of many war veterans do not know, about our fathers / parents who have served in combat. I've taken on the large project this year of tracking down some of the men my father served with in Vietnam. Today I received in the mail two polaroid photos from one of my father's former commanding officers. The photos were taken in Mang Yang Pass (Central Vietnamese highlands) in early 1970. The young man in the photo below is my father, at age 24, about two years before he and my mother met. Part of me feels like I will never know the young man in this photo. Another part of me knows that, of course, it is the man that he became who raised me. 
EDIT UPDATE 4/25/20: Good to look back at this now and to know that puzzle pieces have been falling slowly and surely into place. Though this blog is primarily about art, obviously it takes in other strands of life. It's in learning to balance the strands of life that an artist creates their best work, and I'm glad to have documented the time when I first received this photo.

the Tree of Life

My father passed away a couple of days ago. In the lobby of his hospice was this beautiful, brightly-colored wall sculpture depicting a swarm of butterflies swirling about a tree. I've recently learned that nearly all cultures and faith traditions have reference to a concept of the "Tree of Life". To me, this sculpture represents the universal 'Tree of Life', lending its support to every soul, living or departed, — the butterflies in flight. RIP Dad.

looking at Einstein

Einstein reframed the way we understand the laws of Physics, 

it seems only appropriate to get a bit creative when framing his likeness.

"America Loves Vietnam"

Designed for a new facebook page I just began, titled "America Love Vietnam". This was inspired by the "Israel Loves Iran" facebook page (TEDtalk by founder Ronny Edry here) & my ongoing interest in better understanding what my father experienced as a drafted combatant in the US-Vietnam War.