Why I Keep Making Art

There’s a question I get asked a lot - sometimes directly, sometimes in the spaces between comments on my work: Why do you keep doing this?

The honest answer: because I have to.

Sure, I get to make art as part of my profession - it’s an unbelievably important element for me, but when I say ‘I have to make art’, it’s not in the sense that it’s a chore - more in the sense that I have to breathe. Art for me isnt about chasing anything tangible. It’s not about follower counts or engagement rates. It’s not about making commissions or selling prints (though it does help keep the proverbial lights on). It’s about honoring. It’s about putting on paper what words sometimes can’t carry.

As a Marine, I’ve seen things most people haven’t (that’s not to boast or say that I’ve seen things most Marines haven’t, but less than 1% of the population has served in the military, so statistically speaking, I think it’s fair to say). I’ve stood in moments that have demanded silence, strength, and sometimes surrender to the weight of what we’ve witnessed. As an artist, I’ve tried to give those moments form, so that they dont vanish. In hopes that someone else might see and perhaps even understand. That’s what combat art is to me: storytelling through observation, shaped by discipline, and forged in respect.

Wheter I’m sketching a marine training in the cold of Norway, capturing a split-second moment of leadership, or simply trying to interpret the way light hits a rifle on a range, I’m trying to preserve something real. Something lived.

Unless it’s a field sketch, most of my artwork is made in a spare bedroom, usually with charcoal-stained fiingers and a head full of images I’m still trying to understand. Some pieces go to galleries or magazines. Some stay right here with me. All of them are part of the same mission: to document, to remember, and to share.

So if you’re here - -reading this, looking at the work, considering a print - I want to thank you. You’re a part of this story, too. And if you are an artist, or just someone trying to keep a creative flame alive while serving a greater purpose - I see you. Keep going!

Semper Fidelis,

Mike