Local Vet Uses Art to Deal With Post-War Struggles

When Stephen Ewens was an Army sniper in Afghanistan, his group would spend three, four, sometimes five days in the middle of nowhere waiting for a target.

At times, the wait was calm. Other times, it was maddening.

Often, the Gig Harbor man would think about his brother, 1st Lt. Forrest Ewens, who was the reason he chose to go to war in the first place.

“You feel so vulnerable out there and you don't know what's going to happen,” Ewens said. “You’re fearful for the first few times and you start getting more confident and then you start getting fearful again when things go wrong.”

Over the past five years, Ewens has experienced a lifetime of emotions, beginning with his brother’s death in 2006. .

Four weeks later, Stephen Ewens enlisted in the U.S. Army Infantry. Later he found himself in Afghanistan, the same country where his two older brothers, Oaken and Elisha, were stationed. He saw battle, and he saw death.

Today, Ewens, now 26, is showing his emotions through something that comes natural and gives him serenity: his paintings.

He was always a painter, but his art never used to focus on his experience in Afghanistan. At the prompting of his doctor, he began to paint what he saw and felt in war, and it began to make sense.

"Every time I did another piece, I felt so good about it."

Ewens is creating a series of paintings that tell his stories of war through an effort dubbed "The Afghanistan Project" by Kickstarter. His goal is to collect $5,000 worth of pledges to produce 10 pieces of work to showcase at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord in January.

"My series is going to be the emotional trials of the war," he said. "I went through a lot of different emotions. Everything from revenge to fear to being proud that I was there but I didn't ever fulfill a lot of those due to the fact that you can't fulfill revenge."

Even after he returned from Afghanistan last year, Ewens still couldn’t escape his demons. They kept him awake, even gave him nightmares. He’d see red lights and think tracers from a sniper's gun.

“Things like that just stick in your mind," he said.

As part of his treatment, his doctor suggested exposure therapy, which means “throwing yourself back into that situation over and over again until it's easier to talk about it," he said.

And that's when everything clicked. That's when his paintings began to tell his story.

Here's how The Afghanistan Project works: If people pledge $10, they'll receive a postcard of one of Ewens' finished paintings. Supporters can also buy a full-size 4-by-4 original painting from the series as well. Ten percent of proceeds from the show in January will benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, according to Ewens.

The project has been ongoing since Oct. 21, and Ewens said he's been overwhelmed with positive feedback from other veterans.

"They wanted their own custom pieces made portraying what they went through cause even though they weren't artistically able to make it, they wanted to have something on their wall to remind them of what happened," he said. "Things that we went through over there, veterans know. The guys that were there, they know. But a lot of the people back home, they see what's just on the news and they don't really realize what we had to do on a day-to-day basis."

Ewens said for every painting he produces, there will be a story that accompanies each painting.

"I've actually been getting letters like crazy about vets wanting to do that, they want to write that story," he said. "I really just want other people to see that this is one way to help with what you went through. We’ve been through a lot, and if you ignore it, it just gets worse."

As he paints, he knows his late brother, Forrest, is watching over him. In another sense, a piece of Forrest will always be with him.

Ewens named his youngest son, Forrest James, after his brother.

“I hope he'd be proud. He was a great man and he had a great life and just got to try and fulfill that to make up for what he's missing,” he said.

"I'm just trying to do the right thing. If he died for me, I’d better live for him."

The contest will run through Nov. 21. As of Friday midnight, he's raised $4,010 of his $5,000 goal and 17 days to go.

To submit your pledge or for more information, go to The Afghanistan Project by Kickstarter website.