My Military Art

[Geoff]

I've enjoyed seeing some of the great artwork being posted here, and decided to add a few items of my own. I'm a graphic designer/illustrator by profession (self-taught), and a life-long military history buff and collector.

 

First - this is a piece that's not as detailed as some of my other work. The subject is a company of just-raised New Jersey militia marching north in December, 1776 to collaborate with George Washington's army, which had just retreated from New York. My 5x great grandfather was in this militia company. They did not participate in the famous Battle of Trenton on December 26, but were present with Washington at the 2nd Battle of Trenton/Battle of Assunpink Creek on January 2, 1777, and the Battle of Princeton on January 3, 1777. This is digital art, created in Photoshop.

 

[Geoff]

2nd piece - this is an oil painting I did as a uniform study. The subject is the 24th Michigan Infantry of the famous "Iron Brigade", I Corps, Army of the Potomac, at McPherson's Woods the first morning of the Battle of Gettysburg. For some reason I never quite completed the painting - got this far and then put it down....

 

 

[Geoff]

Third item...another digital piece created in Photoshop. This is a profile illustration of a Japanese Navy Zero fighter from the IJN carrier Shokaku on the morning of December 7, 1941, as the Japanese attack force flew toward Pearl Harbor.

 

 

[Geoff]

Next, another digital piece. This is an illustration of an air action that took place on April 29, 1944 on B-24H "Lili Marlene's" third mission - and first mission to Berlin. The pilot of the Lili Marlene was 2nd Lt Charles D. Peretti, of St. Louis, MO. Two crew survived from the B-24 that is being shot down in the illustration. You can read more about this incident in post #7 in my topic about Charles Peretti here: http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/260881-30-mission-b-24-pilot-grouping/

 

 

[Geoff]

Moving forward to the Vietnam War - here is a digital illustration of an assault landing being made by the "Red Knights" of the 114th Assault Helicopter Company. #620 in the forground is piloted by John Brennan, who currently has a series of books out about Vietnam helicopter nose art. This illustration was initially made for the cover of John's second volume, but the nose art on the book cover is different. After I completed his commission for the book cover, he asked me to rework the art to depict his own ship.

 

 

[Geoff]

Finally, a poster I created and illustrated showing how Huey helicopter markings changed on the "slicks" or troop ships of the 71st Assault Helicopter Company between 1965 and 1971 during the Vietnam War.

 

 

[Milky]

Really loving the 2nd piece, hope you make more.

[Garandomatic]

Very cool!

[American Heritage]

all great Geoff!

[sundance]

Very nice artwork. Wish I had some talent in that area. Any particular collecting interests?

[Geoff]

Hi Sundance, thanks for the compliments on my artwork. I'm pretty eclectic in my collecting - flags, uniforms, and headgear are probably my primary focus. I was a Civil War reenactor for many years, but never collected much from that era. WW2 and Vietnam are my eras of focus in collecting, I have American, Soviet, Japanese, British, Italian, and German items from WW2, and American, South Vietnamese, North Vietnamese, and VC items from the Vietnam conflict. Like I said, a pretty eclectic interest in everything from all of the major participants. I even collect communist East German (mostly early regime era - late 1950s to early 1970s - rather than the later stuff), and Israeli Defense Forces from the Six Day War and Yom Kippur War (1967-1973).

[sundance]

Like most of us you seem to have multiple interests.I'm the same way - I like WW2, US, German and Japanese. If I had deeper pockets I'd probably look more towards Civil War items. My dad was in the Pacific in WW2 which has lead to my interest in Japanese stuff. It's a bit harder to come by though.

[Proud Kraut]

Another example of great artwork displayed at the modeling section, thank your very much for sharing these fantastic pictures!

[Geoff]

I just completed this digital piece. It portrays the final moments of the"Lois Rose", a B-26 B Marauder of the 455th Bomb Squadron, 323rd Bomb Group (Medium), 9th Air Force. The Lois Rose (a/c 41-31853, Squadron code "YU-O" was part of a 36 plane mission to bomb a railroad bridge near Liege, Belgium on the morning of May 25, 1944. The formation passed the IP point, opened bomb bay doors and began their run on the target when German flak guns opened up. The Lois Rose and a sister ship flying next to them were hit almost immediately. The Lois Rose's co-pilot, Lt Homer Posey, was killed by the blast and the right engine was damaged and began trailing thick smoke. The plane dropped from formation and plunged toward the ground, with no one else in the formation seeing any chutes. However, four of the six crew survived. The pilot, Lt. Richard Johnson, Engineer/gunner SSgt John Deloye, Radio operator/gunner SSgt Harry Schultz, and Tail gunner Sgt James O'Donnell Jr, parachuted and were captured. Three were interned in Stalag Luft III, while the fourth - Harry Schults, was interned in Stalag Luft IV. A fifth crewman, Bombadier TSgt Forest Estel parachuted from the stricken aircraft safely but was shot and killed by German soldiers as he came down in his parachute.

 

I recently came into possession of tail gunner Sgt O'Donnell's original Purple Heart and engraved Air Medal, so I decided to illustrate his aircraft's final moments. Hope you enjoy the artwork!

 

[Garandomatic]

Outstanding.

[kanemono]

Very nice work!

Dick

[ArtyScout]

Nice Artwork!

 

Semper Fi.

 

Manny

[willysmb44]

Nice work.

[ArtyScout]

I really like the Lois Rose artwork, especially the story behind it.

 

Semper Fi.

 

Manny

[Backtheattack]

Great work!

[sundance]

Beautiful Marauder picture.