My house is decorated with art from around the world. The pieces reflect my life of travel, mostly as a signals intelligence operative. I enjoy them daily.
My living room is dominated by a large painting from China of a tiger, hung over the fireplace. On the wall to the right are an American Indian painting from the southwest U.S. and a depiction in oil of the Saigon central market in the monsoon downpour. The wall to left features two oil paintings of landscapes from Vietnam.
The piano room where my Steinway grand is center stage is where I have hung a brass tray from India, a watercolor of a Japanese nobleman, and another watercolor of a church in Kiev. But the attention-getter is a photo taken by an artist friend of my combat boots from Vietnam with a quote from my novel Last of the Annamese: “Do what you have to do, whatever it takes.”
Over the fireplace in the adjacent sunroom is a painting that appears to be a copy of an Aztec circular decoration with a face in the middle. On the wall by the door to the deck is a copy of the head of the virgin from Michelangelo’s Pietà in Rome.
Strategically placed throughout the piano room and sunroom are four ceramic elephants from Vietnam. Close by are ceramic and wood-and-marble garden seats from Asia.
In my current life as a fulltime writer, I no longer travel. But I am surrounded by memorabilia that recall my rich experience and spark my imagination. I couldn’t ask for more.
Tom Glenn, Writer 