Civil War Reenactment 2014

The weekend before Thanksgiving: that's when they have the Civil War reenactment at the historic Liendo Plantation.  I had to miss it last year because I was getting ready for that big solo show in Houston and had made myself very sick breathing great doses of varnish.  This year looked grim too, as the weather was just awful at the start of the weekend.  Then, a clearing.  Sunday was beautiful! 
I got there just as the big battle was starting so I couldn't get any closer to the action than this:

We were to be sitting down, and you can see the yellow cord that was supposed to keep us back.  The four people center and left let that cord mark where their backs would be, and they were on their knees for most of the time.  From my position then, were captured a plethora of photos that look like this:

...as I held the camera up over my head.
It was exciting though.  The most exciting part for me was seeing two people who I felt close to because I had painted them over a long period of time.  It's funny to have a one-sided soul-connection with someone, but my heart was pouring things into the figures I was portraying, completely unbeknownst to them.  When I saw them again, I greeted them: they being dear friends to me; I being a perfect stranger to them.  How odd, but somehow sweet.  Like when you dream about someone: you have had this experience with them that they don't remember at all!  Still, it's a part of your memory of them, hopefully a pleasant one.

So here is the bravest of them all, Gordon, and the painting I did of him, "Behind the Lines:"

He is the symbol of our military, staying on the periphery of our lives but laying their lives on the line for our freedom.  Gordon himself, and his children, have served/are serving our country in the military.  He is a true patriot and he is keeping our history alive in a very literal sense. 

And here is the most lovely of them all, Billie, and the painting I did of her, "Something Found:"

She is a symbol of the sweet pursuit of something lost.  Her grace and beauty have moved a lot of people.  She has such a gentle but strong countenance that people seem to confer upon the image of her wishful pieces of themselves.  I had the good fortune of meeting her, and so know that she is everything you would wish such a beautiful person to be; humble, gracious, kind and more beautiful than a brush could render.

I am so grateful this Thanksgiving for the things the skipper in my very first command told us we were living to serve: God, country, family.  I wish you a wonderful holiday.
God bless you and God bless America!

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