Tonight is finally the opening for this year’s exhibit of my work at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria, VA. Titled “Traveler”, this show marks fifteen years that I have been fortunate to have been asked to exhibit a solo show at the Principle Gallery, a fact that I wear as a badge of honor. It’s something that I would never had expected when I began doing this and it pleases me that I have been able to maintain a level of consistent growth through this time. It makes me want to continually surpass each past show and this year is no different. I feel that group of work is as good, if not better in its own way, as any group I have put in display there in the past.
So if you’re in the Alexandria/ DC area tonight, please stop in at the Principle Gallery. I would love to see you there. The piece that is shown here, Unforgettable, is from the show. I am showing this painting because in a way it relates to a much more important aspect of this day – it is the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion on the beaches of Normandy during World War II.
Many people, myself included, are in awe of the tremendous sacrifice and courage of those men on that day and rightfully so. I can’t sit here and even believe for a second that I could do what they did on those beaches that June day in France in 1944. But I can honor the memory of those who didn’t make it off those beaches and honor the lives of those who did. So many who survived are now giving way to death in old age– as it should be–so it remains to us, the living, to maintain the memory of that day and the blood they gave to the land. And hope and pray that such a day should never again come in our lives.
I see this in this painting. Let their memories be unforgettable.
On this day, I think it is fitting that Taps be the music for this day. Here is a version from Arlington National Cemetery ( just a few miles down the road from Alexandria) performed by United States Army Band “Pershing’s Own” bugler, SSG Drew Fremder in the starkness of winter. It is a song that never fails to bring a tear to my eyes.
Hope to see you tonight at the Principle Gallery in Alexandria.
Redtree Times 