Bio: SSG Jonah Hughes, Retired - US ARMY.
Jonah Hughes served as an Infantryman in the US Army with Special Ops LRSD, 25th Infantry Division, 82nd Airborne Division, 10th Mountain Division, and 1st Armored Division.

Jonah deployed all over the world and deployed to Iraq three times. During the three deployments, Jonah was in a total of 10 IED blasts. In 2008, he was medevacked from the last blast.

Jonah was left with a severe Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), a shoulder injury, injuries in both legs, a spinal cord injury, and PTSD. He spent the next three years in a WTU at Landstuhl Army Medical Center in Germany recovering.

Jonah and his wife have 5 children and currently live in Hartford, Connecticut.

Impact art has made: Jonah has been participating in various Adaptive Sports and Art Therapy programs since his injury and has found them to be one of the best forms of therapy. He really enjoys art therapy and has done some woodcarving. Jonah thinks sometimes seeing something visually helps you process things in a different way.

New Beginnings: This is how I imagine seeing the earth from space. I started by using many layers of colors with black over the top to get a cloudy, chalky, nebula kind of look (it might be hard to see in the photo.) Then I added the stars and the earth.

To me, this is a snapshot of the world in the past year. We are all facing a serious threat with COVID19 and in a strange way that brings us all together. My hope is that this is a "new beginning" for us all.

Maybe this disaster can teach humanity better ways to solve problems together. The ones that matter on a global scale. At least that's my hope and wish, which is why the last part of my painting is a shooting star.

Piece created with: I used acrylic on canvas.