The Proud  to be… Story

Proud to be… Over the Memorial Day weekend in 2017, I was visiting my daughter in Lawrence, Kansas. Sometime around mid-morning, I took off, alone, driving some of the rural back roads. It wasn’t long before I drove past this old barn with an American flag painted on the side. It was beautiful, and it just blew me away.

Being in the art gallery business for 44+ years at that time, and occasionally selling some of my photography, I stopped to take a photograph of this beautiful image. As I drove away, I knew within 5-minutes exactly what I was going to do with the roof of the barn. As soon as I got back to my daughter’s house, I wasted no time in sitting down at my daughter’s computer, I picked out a font that looked like a paintbrush stroke, and painted/wrote the words, Proud to be… on the stark white roof.

When I got back to Chicago, I filed a copyright on my Proud to be… image, which can now be purchased as a fine art print, on my website – www.danonartnframes.com either framed or unframed. When I have either sold or donated the printed image (Not the t-shirts.) I donate $25 to K9s for Warriors, in Jacksonville, Florida. I have donated 3 framed images to the Jesse Brown, Veteran’s Hospital system in Chicago, and one to the VA Hospital in Topeka, KS. In the coming months, one each will be donated to VA Hospitals in Wichita, Leavenworth, Kansas City, and to the Army Base at Fort Leavenworth.

It was only after moving to Lawrence, KS, in August, 2019, that I decided to have a digital-transfer of the barn, placed onto t-shirts. And if you buy one, or are presented with one, please wear it with pride, as I do. As a Navy Veteran, it’s the way I choose to live my life.

Thank you,
Bob Danon, so very Proud to be…