Editor’s Note: This article is featured in the upcoming Reservist Magazine’s Winter Issue. The latest magazine issues can be viewed here.
As an officer stationed at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach, Lt. j.g. Gary Rodriguez’s primary job is personnel and administration management — making sure missions are well-organized and executed on the busy waterways of South Florida. It’s work that demands focus and precise communication.
But Rodriguez also knows that sometimes, to make a point, you need more than words. That’s where his art comes in — literally.
In addition to his official operational responsibilities, Rodriguez has a collateral duty unlike any other: He creates watercolor illustrations for MyCG, the Coast Guard’s official communication platform. His work brings color and warmth to a site that serves as a central hub for news, updates and resources for Coast Guard members and their families. Officially, Rodriguez has been a Coast Guard illustrator since November 2024, when he was chosen for the role after responding to a solicitation email for artists from MyCG.
Art has always been a part of Rodriguez’s life. Growing up in South Florida, he was captivated by the natural world around him.
“As a kid, I was always drawing,” he says. “I was always drawing little animals and dinosaurs. I loved capturing the little details that made something unique.”
His first foray into painting began with acrylics, but as he got older, this budding artist — though never formally trained — began to look for challenges.
Enter watercolors.
“At first, it was very difficult,” he said. “The water runs everywhere. It’s very hard to control. But that’s the fun of it: learning to control the water.”
His path to the Coast Guard was similarly fluid. In fact, it began in the country’s other seagoing service, the United States Navy.
Rodriguez first joined the Navy Reserve in 2018, serving as a master-at-arms at Navy Security Forces Key West. It was during this time that Rodriguez first put his artistic skills through the military ringer.
After one of his paintings was noticed by a supervisor, Rodriguez was tasked with coming up with a new logo for the Naval Reserve Center Miami. The logo — designed with Miami Vice palette of pinks and blues — is still used by the unit today.
At the same time, Rodriguez was volunteering with a Coast Guard Auxiliary flotilla near his Miami home. It was there that he grew to admire the Coast Guard’s culture of camaraderie and service. Encouraged by a fellow auxiliarist, he joined the service as an ensign in 2023.
Today, Rodriguez’s illustrations do more than decorate a website. As used by MyCG, they convey the Coast Guard’s mission in a way words cannot.
His first illustration was published in November 2024, accompanying an article about National Veterans and Military Families Month.
The piece, done in swirling watercolor brushstrokes, depicts a Coast Guard member coming home to her family after a deployment, the whole family sharing a warm embrace.
For Rodriguez, combining his passion for art with his commitment to service is deeply rewarding. He hopes likeminded artists will follow in his footsteps.
“I really hope that people in the service look for opportunities to showcase their art,” he said. “There are a lot of people in the Coast Guard whose skills have yet to be tapped. If you have a passion, follow it.”
Rodriguez’s story is a reminder that service in the Coast Guard doesn’t have to mean putting your passions aside. For him, it means using them to make the Coast Guard’s mission more vivid and more human.
In both his roles as an officer and an artist, he truly illustrates that point.
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The Coast Guard Art Program showcases the service's missions and heritage through works of art created by Coast Guard artists. For more about bringing the Coast Guard’s mission to life through art, visit https://www.uscg.mil/Community/Art-Program/.