Greg Crumbly
"The Portrait Artist"
In the News
Greg is the official artist of the "MILITARY HEROES PROJECT" painting the portraits of all the fallen Military men and woman.
www.freewebs.com/militaryheroesproject
Baynard House Fundraiser http://www.newschief.com/article/20091011/NEWS/910115019
Baynard House art show draws many area painters Art Show on Saturday in Auburndale. Saturday, October 10, 2009
By Kara Phelps
News Chief staff
Published: Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 4:01 a.m.
AUBURNDALE - The Baynard House Art Show attracted artists from around Central Florida to Auburndale's Lake Stella Park on Saturday.
Some donated a print to an art auction to benefit the city's restoration of the historic Baynard House. In the near-record high temperatures, the artists sat in the shade of their tents or the trees, chatting with passersby.
Greg Crumbly, a Tampa Bay-area painter, brought prints of his oil paintings to sell, including those of football players, NASCAR drivers and one depicting a Native American with an American flag.
"The driving force behind my paintings is power," he said.
Crumbly brought a print of a painting he completed as a project for the American Ideals Foundation. Military families commission him to paint a portrait of their loved one who has served.
At Baynard on Saturday, his example print showed 19-year-old Chris Cobb, a Marine killed in Iraq five years ago. Cobb's family "noticed I put the 10-mile stare on him," Crumbly said. "Seasoned by combat, he became a warrior."
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For complete story: http://www.newschief.com/article/20091011/NEWS/910115019
Fallen soldier honored
June 21, 2008 10:08 AM
http://www.tampabays10.com/video/default.aspx?aid=64218
Town 'N Country, Florida - A fallen soldier from Tampa was honored Friday. Lance Cpl. Kevin Wruinge immigrated to America with his family when he was a teenager in 1998.
He joined the Marines when he was old enough, and was killed in Iraq in 2003. quot;The American Ideals Foundationquot; honored his family Friday during a ceremony at West Gate Baptist Church in Town 'N Country.
The foundation uses the arts to honor fallen heroes with a quot;Legacyquot; that includes quot;A Portrait of Lifequot; by artist Greg Crumbly, quot;A Musical Portraitquot; by Composer/Pianist Robert Moffa, a poem by poet Gareth Schumacher and a sculpture by sculptor, Anthony Zocchi.
Retired Army Ranger paints fallen troops
By Christopher O’Donnell - Sarasota Herald-Tribune
Posted : Monday Dec 24, 2007 6:22:40 EST
LAKELAND, Fla. — For more than a dozen families of fallen servicemen and women, that feared knock at the door came from Greg Crumbly. During his time as an Army Ranger, one of Crumbly’s duties was to tell parents and spouses that their loved ones had been killed in combat. But after the notification, and long after the sound of taps had faded, Crumbly was struck by how many families were left to grieve alone. “You leave the funeral and there’s a huge drop; that person is not mentioned again,” said Crumbly, 49. Crumbly retired from the Army and later became a portrait artist. Now, he is using his military experience and artistic talent to provide families of troops killed in Iraq with a lasting memorial of their loved ones.
The Lakeland artist wants to paint portraits of the roughly 160 Florida service men and women killed in Iraq; the paintings will be given to the families at no cost. His first portrait will be of Christopher Cobb, a 19-year-old Marine from Bradenton who was killed while on routine patrol in Anbar, Iraq, in 2004. “Who carries on for them?” Crumbly asked. “Who keeps them in this world? I want people to be able to say: ‘This is my son. He’s still with us.’” And a painted portrait, he thinks, carries more permanence and prominence than a photograph. The idea for the portrait project came from Don Blair, a retired NBC radio network correspondent who lives in Venice. Blair thought it was something that could also help Florida families, so he asked Crumbly, a friend of his, to get involved. “I can’t think of anyone who would do it better,” Blair said. “He’s going to keep on painting as long as families contact us and say, ‘Will you paint our loved ones?’”
The project is being coordinated by the American Ideals Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes artists. The group is talking to Department of Defense officials to try to get the program recognized. The group is seeking grants and donations to pay for more. “We want to make sure that they’re not forgotten, that every time they look at the wall a smile will come to their face, not fear,” Crumbly said. Crumbly worked on Cobb’s picture, using six pictures of Cobb affixed to his drawing board as a guide. Crumbly is planning to use a picture of Cobb in his full ceremonial uniform as the centerpiece of the painting. He will then encircle that with smaller images from Cobb’s life, such as his graduation ceremony and an image showing Cobb dressed in fatigues and carrying a rifle in the desert in Kuwait. “He’s just a baby,” said Crumbly, looking at the photos. “He’s just a kid.” The photos were chosen by Cobb’s mother, Sheila Cobb. Talking about Christopher three and a half years after his death still brings her to tears. Photos of Christopher, her only child, cover many of the walls of her South Manatee home. In her wallet she keeps a small copy of the last photo taken of her son. She also keeps in touch with his friends and comrades, and attends events to honor him, anything that will keep him alive in the hearts of others. “Him being my only child, it’s been hard,” she said. “That’s why I try to talk to a lot of his friends.”
Cobb said she feels honored that her son will be the first portrait painted by Crumbly. Looking around her living room, she was already planning what photographs she might move in order to make space for it. She said she likes paintings “because they last forever. I’ll find a place for it; I always do.”
War dead live on in art
Vet paints portraits to give to survivors of troops killed in Iraq.
The Ledger
LAKELAND - For more than a dozen families of fallen servicemen and women, that feared knock at the door came from Greg Crumbly.
During his time as a U.S. Army Ranger, one of Crumbly's duties was to tell parents and spouses that their loved one had been killed in combat.
But after the notification, and long after the sound of taps had faded, Crumbly was struck by how many families were left to grieve alone.
"You leave the funeral and there's a huge drop; that person is not mentioned again," said Crumbly, 49.
Crumbly retired from the Army and later became a portrait artist. Now, he is using his military experience and artistic talent to provide families of troops killed in Iraq with a lasting memorial of their loved ones.
The Lakeland artist wants to paint portraits of the roughly 160 Florida servicemen and women killed in Iraq; the paintings will be given to the families at no cost.
His first portrait will be of Christopher Cobb, a 19-year-old Marine from Bradenton who was killed while on routine patrol in Al Anbar province in Iraq in 2004.
"I want people to be able to say, 'This is my son. He's still with us," Crumbly said.
And a painted portrait, he believes, carries more permanence and prominence than a photograph.
The idea for the portrait project came from Don Blair, a retired NBC radio network correspondent who lives in Venice.
Blair thought it was something that could also help Florida families, so he asked Crumbly, a friend of his, to get involved.
"I can't think of anyone who would do it better," Blair said.
The project is being coordinated by the American Ideals Foundation, a nonprofit that promotes artists. The group is talking to Department of Defence officials to try to get the program recognized.
"We want to make sure that they're not forgotten, that every time they look at the the wall a smile will come to their face, not fear," Crumbly said.
On Monday afternoon, Crumbly worked on Cobb's picture, using six pictures of Cobb affixed to his drawing board as a guide.
Crumbly is planning to use a picture of Cobb in his full ceremonial uniform as the centerpiece of the painting. He will then encircle that with smaller images from Cobb's life, such as his graduation ceremony and an image showing Cobb dressed in fatigues and carrying a rifle in the desert in Kuwait.
The photographs were chosen by Cobb's mother, Sheila Cobb.
Cobb said she feels honored that her son will be the first portrait painted by Crumbly.
She said she likes paintings "because they last forever. I'll find a place for it; I always do."
