Nicole Little

When I was asked to contribute a piece to the True Patriot Love Foundation, I decided to use the opportunity to reflect on my training with the Canadian Armed Forces. Although I was an officer only very briefly and, of course, I have no regrets about my wonderful second son, I do miss the experience of being ‘in the army’. I miss the exceptional people and the camaraderie, so I hid a section of Infantry soldiers in the piece. (Because I was a 2LT, I did briefly lose my section but then got lucky and found them again.) I miss being outside at night under a very clear sky, so I put a sky under the helmet. I miss the challenge and the mechanics of working outside my expertise, so I challenged myself with the engineering of this piece. I do not miss the cold, but we are Canadian, so I tried to find a way to include that too. 

‘The Exercise’ includes land, air, and sea elements in recognition of the unique roles of the Canadian Army, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the Royal Canadian Navy. The base for the piece and the helmet itself were created using natural elements under many layers of resin. The gold and green colour of the helmet was achieved with a combination of acrylic paint and resin. It was then sanded and recoated to create organic ‘wear’.  

If you are interested in the creation of this piece and the many, many learning experiences I had in creating it, you can read more about it on its blog:
True Patriot Love

The base of this piece measures 18″x 16″.