Spring time flowers.

Spring is a beautiful time of year. Here are some flowers I have been painting. I just love the colors of the spring time flowers. The original photographs of the flowers comes from Emily Hansen. She is one of the mothers of the boys that died in 2010. please remember her and the other families as we pause on memorial day this year.

1st Lt Joel Christopher Gentz

From: Grass Lake, Michigan
Age: 25
Unit: 58th Rescue Squadron, 563rd Rescue Group, 23rd Wing
Died: June 9, 2010

1^st Lt Joel Christopher Gentz

Fatal incident occurred in Helmand province , Afghanistan
One of four airmen killed when their HH-60G Pave Hawk rescue helicopter was shot down near Forward Operating Base Jackson in Helmand province, Afghanistan, on June 9, 2010

Joel was a pretty incredible man. He went through some of the hardest training in the service to get to were he was at. he also was arranging for the children of the area to get gifts from the soldiers. He was known more as a peace maker not a fighter. His helicopter went down and he was killed. In developing the story for the book to be shown at the showing of the pictures I have come to have a large appreciation for whom this man was.

Spc Joseph Dennis Johnson

From: Flint, Michigan
Age: 24
Unit: 161st Engineer Support Company, 27th Engineer Battalion, 20th Engineer Brigade
Died: June 16, 2010

Spc Joseph Dennis Johnson

Fatal incident occurred in Kunduz, Afghanistan
One of two soldiers killed when insurgents attacked their unit with a roadside bomb at North Kunduz, Afghanistan, on June 16, 2010.

I am finding that I am drained and feeling pressure over these pictures. It is sinking in my soul. I think about theses men and their families and feel the loss of them in the universe. The young men who had children are especially on my mind.

There is now a whole in the universe and in the hearts of those that loved them.

Daane Deboer

Daane Deboer was a 24 year old Marine who recently lost his live in Afghanistan. His father is my brothers boyhood friend. I painted this picture for the family in his memory. My heart goes out to his family and his friends.