Kevin Webster

9/26/2025 7:55:43 PM

UNCLE SAM WANTS YOU

Everyone in my family assumed that I would become an artist after high school or at least study art in college, so they were shocked when I joined the Marine Corps. I have always loved the military and loved military aviation even more. At the time I treated art more as a hobby and a hobby was not going to put me through college or earn me a paycheck, to the decision was easy.

I reported to MCRD Paris Island, SC on July 20, 1983 and soon found out what hell on earth was like. After graduating I received my technical training and became an A6 Intruder electrician. During my enlistment in the Marine Corps I continued working on my artistic skills. I experimented with screen printing and airbrush. Nothing major just things to pass the time and be creative. Before I knew it my 4 year enlistment was coming to an end and I now had a wife and baby to support. I did not want to stay in the Marine Corps but I did want to stay in the military and possibly make it a career. So the day after my discharge from the Marine Corps I joined the Army. This is where I would spend the next 17 years and eventually retire as a First Sergeant in the storied 101st Airborne Division.

During my time at Fort Campbell I completed several paintings for the 101st and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment also known as the Night Stalkers. These painting are now part of the Armies art collection and are displayed at the 101st Airborne Division and 160th Headquarters buildings. This is where I fell in love with the ART OF WAR. Painting, not photographing war. By the time I retired from the military I had honed my skills and was now taking my art more serious but just not ready to do it full time and I did not see painting war scenes while back home in Birmingham, AL. So I shifted to wildlife and sporting art. For the next 20 years I would paint more as a professional hobby, making mistakes along the way, trying various styles and mediums and learning more with each and every painting. This journey has made me a better artist and I now live to paint and do not paint for a living.

I have now retired from my second career as a police and fire dispatcher. I have begun painting full time and treat it as a profession now with all the time that I need to create works that I am extremely proud of. Works that tell a story of a time and place that me and only a few other people may have seen. Works that bring me happiness and I hope that the bring that same happiness to others for years to come.

So that is my artistic journey. One that took 60 years to reach but one that was well worth it.

8/12/2025 7:02:51 PM

The Smell of Linseed Oil and Memories of Grandpa

Kevin Webster / Comment on this

Some of my fondest memories were times that I spent with my Grandpa Lloyd DePratu. Grandpa was born and raised in Montana, and he was an artist and outdoorsman among many other trades. He was bigger than life and would often tell stories about the West, with its majestic mountains, amazing wildlife, cowboys, and Native Americans. He was born in 1915 in the Sun River Valley of Montana, and he grew up near Great Falls. His love for art remained a constant thread throughout his life.

This love for the West extended into Grandpa’s passion for art, which was deeply influenced by Charles M. Russell, an artist who also lived in Great Falls. Grandpa told me about him and his dad visiting Charlie at his studio in Great Falls and and he remembered the day they were let out of school for his funeral. After reading more about Charles Russell, I see a lot of him in my Grandpa. He made a lasting impression on Grandpa, and Grandpa left one on me.

During our visits to Montana, Grandpa would sit down and draw with me, and he always showed me the art that he was creating in his home studio. To this day, the smell of linseed oil reminds me of him and those wonderful times.