9/11 Ten Yrs Later

9/11

Three numbers…..three words say so much.

Here is my brief story in words & pictures (paintings) about that fateful tragic day…..

 

09.21.2001                                                  10.03.2001

The day began like any other Tuesday at the end of summer.  The sky was a deep blue

that seemed to go on forever...It was a top 5 of the year weather day.  So clear.....

 

Driving into work I heard on the radio that a small plane crashed into the WTC.  By the time I logged on, we learned that it was a jet that had crashed into WTC.  Soon thereafter a second jet hit the other tower.

Then the internet slowed to a crawl.  Barely any info coming thru as to WTF was going on. 

 
04.11.2002

Someone had a radio up one of the higher floors and came down to tell us that one of the towers fell. 

Soon thereafter, the images were on the internet. 

And then we heard about the second tower falling too.....

A piece of my soul died that day....

 

04.12.2002

"Where were you when....?"

For our grandparents it was Pearl Harbor 12/7/41

For our parents it was Kennedy's assassination 11/22/63

For those of us in the X and Y generation - it was when the towers fell 9/11/2001

 

When those towers fell, I was convinced we all had just watched the massacre of 30-40 THOUSAND people 

The casualty rate would have been higher had they not failed in 1993....

RIP to those 2,976 souls who did DIE on that awful and cruel day.

 

11.09.2008

That night in 2001, the skies dark cold were quiet.  No commercial planes flew that night.

Around midnight I saw and heard two squadrons of F-18s and F-22s overhead. 

 

The leaves that fall were a vivid YELLOW. 

Almost blinding with their brightness. 

Almost blinding in their sadness as well.

Maybe one day I can reach back into those dim memories and paint them too.

 
12.07.2002


12.08.2002

05.24.2003

Why I paint the towers I paint as they were.

It's kind of like trying to recapture the Christmas magic you feel as a child.  You can catch glimpses of it as an adult, but that feeling is almost unreachable.  I paint the towers for the 30 peaceful years they stood until 9.11.2001.

 

11.10.2001

I don't paint the towers on fire or falling down.  Too painful. Way too painful to go there.....And I've painted some pretty dark stuff (most of which hasn't and won't see the light of day)....

One exception - June 2002 painting = self-portrait w/ american flag colors.  Although you can't see it - the reflections in the pupils has both towers burning.  Most don't even see it when they see the painting close up. 

 

06.09.2002

Now you know they're there......

09.11.2010