Happy Veterans' Day 2012!

                                             
                             "Bagpipers On Parade" 6"x8" oil on canvasboard
                                                              $200 SOLD

            This weekend there will be Veterans Day parades in both large cities and small towns across the country. The parades are a long standing tradition dating back to 1947 when the very first Veterans Day celebration was officially held in Birmingham, Alabama. Originally, November 11th was known as Armistice Day, named after the 1918 Armistice that ended WWI. In 1945 a WWII veteran from Birmingham named Raymond Weeks had an idea to expand Armistice Day to celebrate all veterans, not just those who served in WWI. Weeks was supported by Gen. Eisenhower, who advocated a national veterans' holiday. Weeks led what is generally regarded as the first Veterans Day celebration in 1947, but Armistice Day wasn't officially changed to Veterans Day until 1954 when then President  Eisenhower signed a bill into law recognizing the change.
           In almost every ceremony or parade honoring veterans I've been to, bagpipers seem to always make an appearance. The mournful wail of the bagpipe is something that has become familiar with events honoring those who serve our country. While searching through reference material to find subject matter befitting a Veterans Day themed painting I came across these colorfully uniformed harbingers of solemn dignity marching in unison to their somber music. I thought they made for good subjects to paint.
            I want to wish All veterans a happy Veterans Day. And if your not a veteran, please take the time to let those who have served and sacrificed for our freedom know how much you appreciate them.

                             The City's Oldest Known Survivor of The Great War
                                                       by James Doyle

                             Marches in uniform down the traffic stripe
                             at the center of the street, counts time
                             to the unseen web that has rearranged
                             the air around him, his left hand
                             stiff as a leather strap along his side,
                             the other saluting right through the decades
                             as if they weren't there, as if everyone under ninety
                             were pervasive fog the morning would dispel
                             in it's own good time, as if the high school band
                             all flapping thighs and cuffs behind him
                             were as ghostly as the tumbleweed on every road
                             dead-ended in the present, all the ancient infantry
                             shoulder right, through a skein of bone, presenting arms
                             across the drift, nothing but empty graves now
                             to round off another century,
                             the sweet honey of the old cadence, the streets
                             going by at attention, the banners glistening with  dew,
                             the wives and children blowing kisses.

For purchasing  info : Email me at dannyowen03@yahoo.com  * All paintings are framed and Ready to Hang with 3" wide "plein air" style gold frames.

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