I have always scribbled and drawn. After ten years with 45 Commando Royal Marines, I moved to 49 Field Squadron Royal Engineers (EOD), before finishing my military career with 33 Engineer Regiment EOD.
Physically, it was a wonderful career, filled with experiences and friendships that remain important to me. There were difficult moments too, including being on the receiving end of a Belfast bricking in 1986. In 2010, I was diagnosed with complex PTSD and introduced to art as therapy. What began as therapy became something I have returned to almost every day since.
Leaving the military brought its own challenges. Nothing quite prepares you for civilian life when your whole way of thinking has been shaped by the military. Sometimes it was the simplest things — like the cost of a tube of toothpaste when it wasn’t bought on base.
Thoughts permeate my brain on a daily but ad hoc basis, the subject matter ranges from the good times to the bad- but one thing I’ll always agree on is that my time in the service gave me the family I always longed for. Art gives me a way to make sense of them, even if only for a single moment. I can express with paint what, said aloud, might earn me some very strange looks to say the very least!
I’ve learned that through art, the pros outweigh the cons tenfold. The making matters more than the finished piece.
