Photo By Seaman Imani Daniels | PORTSMOUTH, Virginia (May 20, 2019) – Hospitalman Deericka Payton, an orthopedic...... read more read more
PORTSMOUTH, Virginia (May 20, 2019) – Hospitalman Deericka Payton, an orthopedic technician in Naval Medical Center Portsmouth’s (NMCP) Orthopedics Department, artistically created a mural, entitled “Who We Are”, in honor of U.S military veterans.
Payton, who is self-taught, fell in love with art when witnessing her mother and sister experiment with drawing at a young age.
“When I first started drawing, I used to watch my mom draw,” Payton said. “I still remember the first picture she showed me, I tried to copy it. At the time I started, I was horrible at drawing until my sister got into art which motivated me to keep trying and drawing more.”
After finding a passion in animation, Payton’s skills became greater.
“I started animating and that helped me to get better at drawing and creating my own style,” Payton said. “I have several comics that I’ve fully created and I took five art classes my senior year of high school which consisted of Art One, Two, and Three, AP Art, and Advanced Art.”
When asked what her motivation was behind creating the mural, Payton said her family has always been military. Having had multiple family members serve in the armed forces, she grew up a military child, which aided in the respect she gained for the military and its veterans.
“I was once a tattoo artist and during that time I would have a lot of veterans come through,” Payton said. “I would meet them and they would tell me their stories. When I joined the Navy, I worked for the VA Hospital in San Antonio, while working on my clinicals. The veterans I encountered gave me a new found respect for those who have served.”
Payton has been in the Navy for a year and has worked at NMCP for nine months. She joined not only because of her respect of the military, but the chance to be part of something bigger than herself.
“I wanted to experience the real world,” Payton said. “I’m the youngest of three and my family shielded me from a lot of things. After realizing that I’m getting older, I wanted to do something with my life.”
Payton also mentioned she wanted to be able to go to school to pursue her passion in art. She’s considered a few art institutes locally which she will most likely attend if given tuition assistance.
“I would like to stay in the service, but it depends on how my first four years go,” Payton said. “I want to see how it is at first and if I like it then I’ll stay in. I want to go to art school and get into animation.”
With her mom previously being an emergency medical technician (EMT) and being exposed to trauma situations early in life, she rapidly learned a lot about the medical field. Payton reflected on why she decided to become a corpsman.
“The medical field is an easy thing for me,” Payton said. I like caring for people.”
Payton’s future goals include continuing her Navy career and getting a degree in art to pursue her lifelong passion of animation.
As the U.S. Navy's oldest, continuously-operating military hospital since 1830, Naval Medical Center Portsmouth proudly serves past and present military members and their families. The nationally-acclaimed, state-of-the-art medical center, along with the area's 10 branch health and TRICARE Prime Clinics, provide care for the Hampton Roads area. The medical center also supports premier research and teaching programs designed to prepare new doctors, nurses and hospital corpsman for future roles in healing and wellness.
| Date Taken: | 05.20.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 06.19.2019 09:08 |
| Story ID: | 328295 |
| Location: | PORTSMOUTH, VA, US |
| Web Views: | 241 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, NMCP Corpsman Creates Mural in Honor of Veterans, by SN Imani Daniels, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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