“This painting contains everything I like about symbolic aviation art. It’s full of symbolism as two SBD-3s—S-9 and S-11 of VS-5—fly from the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier against the dark clouds of war and a rising sun, the symbol of the Japanese empire. In this case, the sun is symbolic of hope and the dawn of a new day as the tide turns in the Pacific at the Battle of Midway in June of 1942.”

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Aviation was my first artistic love, but my true, enduring love remains my Christian faith, home and family. So it is my pleasure to combine all of it in my work. The historical aviation subjects, I research; the contemporary and nostalgic subjects, I live.

Phillips grew up loving art but never thought he could make it his livelihood. At college he majored in criminology, and he had been accepted into law school when four of his paintings were sold at an airport restaurant. That was all the incentive he needed to begin his work as a fine art painter.

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