Hi, my name is Tony Sweeney and I am painting a tribute painting in honour of our brave servicemen and servicewomen. I will be auctioning the painting as soon as it is finished and framed. I have set myself a target of £1000.I hope to raise this by auctioning the painting itself and from supporting donations from family members,work colleagues and kind members of the public such as you. I will post images of the painting as I progress starting tomorrow,Remembrance Sunday,with the initial sketch . Please help me to reach my target by making a donation,however small,and together we can make a difference to the care that these brave men and women deserve.

Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.

So please dig deep and donate now.

Sunday 8th November,

Initial sketch complete.It shows soldiers disembarking a Chinook Helicopter.It is from a ref photo taken by Petty Officer Sean Clee who kindly sent me a copy of the image to use. I hope to be starting to paint tomorrow. I will update you with my progress and you will see the painting come to life as I go. 

Monday 9th November,

I have started to add paint now starting with the background. This is mainly sand dust and a bit of sky. I will be working just on the background for a while and then start on the helicopter and the soldiers in the background.Keep checking back to see the painting develop. It's a slow process and I will be adding more and more detail as I progress with the painting....so who is going to make the first donation ????

Sunday 15th November

Managed to get a bit more done in between working a shift. Work really gets in the way of painting time. Beginning to put a bit of detail on the Chinook and starting on the soldier in the near background.Still loads to do. Keep checking back for the next update. I am really enjoying doing this painting.It,s different to what I normally paint,sort of out of my comfort zone of painting motorbikes. Need more donations...no matter how small.

Saturday 21st November

I have been working on the soldiers in the near background. I think I need to tone down the 2 soldiers on the far left a bit because in the ref photo they are more in the sand dust that's being kicked up from the helicopter.Have also started to work on one of the soldiers in the foreground. I will be putting a lot of detail into these 2 soldiers as they are right at the front and there is a lot of detail in the ref photo. Hope I can do justice to the fantastic photo that Petty Officer Sean Clee took. Thanks for your support.

Tuesday 1st December

Not getting much time lately with work/shifts but managed to get a bit more done on the 2 bergens to the left and I am starting to concentrate on the soldier at the front left. I will be concentrating on him until I am happy with the detail and then will start on the soldier front right. Hope to get a day off soon so I can get a bit more done. Thank you all very much for your fantastic support. I am very confident we will reach the target and hopefully surpass it.

Wednesday 9th December

Managed to put a few more hours into the painting. Really need a day off to get about 8 hours of painting  done. It's coming along ok though. I have started on the soldier at the front right and when I get him looking ok I will go over both of these two main subjects and add a lot more detail. It will even say  Royal Marine Commando on one of the shoulder badges and the rifles will have a lot more detail.

Wednesday 16th December

Have put a lot more detail into the 2 soldiers at the front.Still need to finish off a few areas and then go over the whole painting to check I havn't missed anything. Hope to have it finished and framed in early January. Then I need to come up with the best place to auction it. Hopefully at an Army charity Gala Night or something like that.

Wednesday 20th January

Finally finished the painting. I could keep messing about with bits and pieces but sometimes you have got to call a painting finished. I hope I have done justice to Sean`s photo of Our Brave Troops and I hope any servicemen and women who see the painting will like it. I would like to thank everyone who has donated up to now....and encourage anyone who has not to please help me to Help our Heroes.

The painting is being framed on Saturday by the kind people at Rennies Art in Ormskirk. I would like to thank them for their help.I buy most of my art materials from them and when I asked if they would frame the painting for me they had no hesitation when they heard it was for H4H.

I am just waiting to hear from a few people and one of the Liverpool Echo reporters,Vicki Kellaway, who is a passionate supporter of our Armed Forces has emailed me to say she will do what she can to help. Thanks Vicki.

I will post an update here when I have organised a venue for the auction.....thank you.

Tuesday 26th January

I have received an email from Lt Colonel Rory Bruce (RMR) and Unit Sergeant  Major WO2 John Fletcher (RM) from Royal Marines Reserve Merseyside. They have offered to purchace my painting on behalf of their Unit for £400 and have invited me to be their guest at an up coming dinner with Liverpool Detachment RMR.

It will be my great honour to present them with the painting which will be hung on display at RMR Merseyside HQ in East Brunswick Dock in Liverpool.

We hope to raise some more money on the night which will go to my fundraising target which will take me past my £1000 target for our brave servicemen and women.

I would like to thank everyone who has helped me to Help Our Heroes.....I appreciate every donation that has been made and hope it gives some support for our wounded troops.

Tony.

Sunday 28th February

I was very honoured to be a guest of the Royal Marines in Liverpool at their formal dinner on Friday 26th Feb. I presented them with the painting which is simply entitled "HEROES". They bought the painting for £400 which I will be adding to this page in the next few days. 

I met some fantastic guys and I hope to stay in touch with them. As soon as I get the photos I will post them here.

I would like to thank RMR Merseyside Det. for making me feel so welcome and for providing a very fitting home for the painting.

I would also like to thank Rennies Art in Ormskirk and Liverpool for kindly framing the artwork for me.

Tony.