Hey Everybody! With January finally here I want to share a few paintings that I donated to the Lone Survivor Foundation to help raise funds for their organization and tell you a little bit about how I came to be involved.

I.C.A.N.

Last year I had the idea to create a collaborative art group called I.C.A.N. , Improv. Collaborative Art Network. The initial thought was for artists from all over to work together and create work that would help artists grow and support a good cause. So basically one artist would start a piece work it for a few hours and mail it off to the next artist in line to work for a few hours, and then to the next artist until they are done. When all the pieces were done the plan was to donate them to an organization of our choosing. The idea was that it would help artists explore new territory, develop a support network of other artist, and give them exposure while helping a good cause.

While it was still a new idea and I had a few artists on board I began searching for organizations to donate to. Then one day in a casual conversation while painting at the pool I found out that one of my neighbors was part of the Lone Survivor team. We got to talking and I brought up the idea of donating art to the cause and she was all about it.

The Lone Survivor Foundation

If you aren’t familiar with the Lone Survivor Foundation it is an organization started by Marcus Luttrell, the sole survivor of Operation Red Wing. You might have seen the movie Lone Survivor starring Mark Wahlberg. Check them out here. They help service members with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mild Traumatic Brain Injury, Chronic Pain, and Military Sexual Trauma. They are really helping not just the veterans cope, but also their families. Great organization. If you want to see how you can get involved and help out then go to their website and see what they have going on

Hibernation of I.C.A.N.

The project fizzled out with a lack of support from other artists for our first organization and probably poor management of the group after being upset by the reaction of the group members. I tried to start the project again with a new members, but it fell apart. The trial run which started with me never got past the next artist. The problem was there wasn’t really any system of accountability and an extreme lack of urgency.

Having already agreed to donate to the organization I decided that I would just do a couple of paintings myself. I thought a lot about what I should paint, and in the end I decided to do a portrait of Lieutenant Michael Murphy, one of the fallen heroes from the operation, and an abstraction of soldiers in the desert heat.

Lieutenant Michael Murphy

22" x 28" Oil Paint on Gallery Wrap Canvas

 

 

Desert Heat

24" x 48" Acrylic and Spray Paint on Gallery Wrap Canvas

Houston Gala

In just a couple of weeks, January 19^th it will be time for the Houston Gala where these paintings will be part of a silent auction to raise funds for the organization. It was originally supposed to happen in September, but it was rescheduled due to Hurricane Harvey. I have been dying in anticipation to see how much money they can raise. It is a $500 a plate dinner so everyone should be feeling pretty generous. Hopefully they can raise several thousand dollars from the paintings.

Potential Resurrection of I.C.A.N.

I would like to eventually start the collaborative art project back up and maybe Steemit is the perfect place to do that. If you might be interested in getting involved in that our have any leads in that direction then please comment and let me know. If there is enough interest and support then I might make an account for that specifically. However this time there will be a different selection process than just letting anyone and everyone on board. I don’t want the headache again of trying to manage a group of people with no drive or follow through.

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