Da Nang Marine 1965

Da Nang Marine 1965 24x30 Oil on Masonite

I needed to make some paintings from 1960's Vietnam and this is my third. The inspiration is from a photo I saw somewhere online (where else?) and I couldn't get the image out of my mind.

I tried to have the Marine's expression more tired or weary than sad or depressed. But I guess there wasn't a difference, really, in 1965 "in country".

This fellow has probably seen a lot and been through much that most people can't imagine. Maybe, though, he's pondering the prospect of going home. Going home was sometimes tough; leaving your buddies and/or being exposed to some of that antiwar "stuff" back home.

People back home didn't want (or didn't know how) to talk a bout "the war" so we learned to not talk a bout it. He's in his sixties now - if he came home alive. He probably doesn't talk about those years of his life except in bits and pieces with others that were there and a lot of that communication with "brothers" isn't vocal.

Walking Point 1966 Vietnam - No. 2

Walking Point 1966 Vietnam - No. 2 7x15 Oil on Masonite.

I used more color in this version and didn't let as much of the tinted Masonite show through.The darkest darks are Torrit Grey with some green mixed in. Then a WHOLE LOTTA green! There's some reds and oranges in there as well, although not very much.

It's funny (to me) how different a painting looks after it's been posted. Even after "tinkering" with it with photo editing software. Long story short, I see some things that I'll touch up after a while.

Right now, I'm going to get something cool to drink and go sit on our back yard deck. The "something cool to drink" will be a cocktail of Crystal Light Lemonade & Fresca. Whoooo doggies!

Walking Point 1966 Vietnam - No. 1

Walking Point 1966 Vietnam - No. 1 5 1/4 x 15 5/8 Oil on Masonite.

"Vietnam… A Marine walking point for his unit during Operation Macon, a marine moves slowly, cautious of enemy pitfalls…"
By an unknown photographer, 1966
National Archives, Records of the United States Marine Corps

In modern military parlance, to take point, walk point, be on point, or be a point man means to assume the first and most exposed position in a combat military formation, that is, the lead soldier/unit advancing through hostile or unsecured territory.

5/13/2009 - Updated the photo after "touching up" the painting here & there. I'll leave it for a while. It's probably as "finished" as it needs to be! :-)

I was looking at photos in the National Archives, trying to find inspiration to make a painting when I came upon a 1966 photograph of a Marine "Walking Point". It struck a chord in me because some things happened to me this weekend and then yesterday.

Saturday I was at a neighbor's party for their daughter's first birthday and some of us "old folks" were talking. One of the ladies got nostalgic and remembered how much fun and happiness there was "in the sixties." I was a little surprised, I guess, because I was in the Air Force during the sixties and it wasn't particularly fun nor happy if you were in any of the branches of the military. It's all in your point of view, isn't it? Anyhowwwww . . . .

In the N.A. website I saw two photos that "rang my bell" and I prepared to make paintings from the photos. As I was making the drawing on my Masonite, I took a break & looked at the list of visitors to my blog and imagine my astonishment to see that my blog had been visited by a person in Hanoi, Vietnam. Totally weird! There's an answer here but I don't know what the question is.

OK. Enough of that!

Except for the Marine, the painting is done with Gamblin's Torrit Grey and Winton's Titanium White. The Marine is painted by mixing a Green, a Yellow, Torrit Grey and White. The reddish tone is the tinted Masonite. I'm not sure what to call the color - I add colors of acrylic to the white gesso until I get a color that pleases me at the moment. The size of this painting is a little weird, I guess. Another scrap of Masonite put to good use!

The next painting will be 24x30.