Chapter 3: Spin

This Chapter I feel definitely was a temporary ray of sunlight through the previously ominous pages of the book. It gave a different spin, using a bit humor as well as mentioning a simple yet extremely powerful word: peace. It spoke of brief moments where the characters could just inhale the deceiving war which concealed the remarkable beauty that Vietnam had to offer. The chapter was short, but in this chapter the first sign of positivity was presented. 

I asked my dad about war, and about the controversies about war being in anyway pleasant. He said, "The land is not war. Motherland, mother nature, mother Earth is not war."

It was very simple yet at the same time so eye opening, allowing me to understand that war is blinding on so many different levels. 

I decided to do something very simple for this chapter. I used the method of water color painting which I found to be rather frustrating and complex. Sure its what many of us would use in elementary school but if you really want to make an incredible work of art with it it takes much patience and a lot of practice. Even though it turned out to be nothing like I had hoped for, I attempted to mainly paint a calm view. I did this by using pastel hues especially for the sky. I had the sky begin with a fuchsia which slowly shaded into different shades of blues until it even got to the Earth green colors. The various pinks are random but it represents wonder, uniqueness and mystery just as Vietnam sounds to be in the book. On the left side I painted a tree which connects to the old Banyan Tree where Mitchell Sanders sat. It then has a soldier looking off into the distance with a blank expression which isn't clear at all due to poor painting skills because of excess water. On the right I placed one of the most extraordinary quotes in the whole book. It's the previously mentioned special 9 lines of that 38th page.