This image was inspired by a class on World War I. As I realist I prefer to have my paintings with the faces being the most detailed. However knowing the history behind the battles of wwI I chose to keep the image of the solider rough and the grimy details of the personal lives of the soldiers realistic: the injuries, (no matter how small they are, from a broken fingernail to welts and infections), the flies which covered the trenches like buzzing nets, the cigarettes which kept them sane and of course, the symbolising poppy. These poppies were not found on Gallipoli, but are found in Europe - fields of them had been flattened in battle, but I like to think there was at least one flower there that survived the battlefield. He is sitting in a trench, having a conversation with someone out of the picture, ignoring the flies on him, possibly waiting for mail or talking about the day they get to go home.