Redemption (Portrait Of Artist Richard Barnett)

variety of soft pastel over an underpainting of watercolor and acrylic ink on UArt 400 grit sanded paper
This was my inspiration:

How do our past life experiences influence our current art? Do we have a higher purpose for our work? A raison d'être?
And do our images belong to us or can they be approriated, twisted and used for others’ purposes?
Before meeting Richard I met his monumental painting “Mea Culpa”. I had seen the photo used in that piece of the soldier with the child in his lap many years before on all the news media. I had no idea that Richard was that soldier. Learning that he also happens to live in my neighborhood we became friends and I learned the back story of that painting and his reason for painting it.
Richard has also become a huge inspiration to me and I wanted to portray not only his likeness but his story. I used that original AP news image of him in Iraq and his own words from “Mea Culpa” as reference, taken somewhat out of context again just like the war photo back in 2003.
The progression from soldier to artist, from being under someone else’s command to taking back control of his life and images, that was the inspiration behind this painting.