In March 2003, Matthew Cook was working in his studio one Friday afternoon when the telephone rang. It was David Driver, head of design at The Times, asking if he would like to go to Iraq to cover the impending conflict as the paper’s war artist.

He takes up the story: "I am a member of the Territorial Army and was hungry for more demanding reportage work; this was the assignment of my dreams. With a thumping heart, I said yes immediately.

"My route in Iraq was unplanned. Days after the war began, I crossed the Kuwait-Iraq border in a hired car with no proper map and no idea of what I might see.

"I followed my instincts and grabbed opportunities as they came. I was not an embedded journalist, and preferred to travel alone rather than with the press. My brief was simple: I drew what caught my eye.

Multimedia

• Matthew Cook Iraq illustration gallery

"A typical day would see me sketch on location, return to my car to finish the drawing or painting, scan it on a portable scanner, and send the image through a satellite phone to the picture desk at The Times. This meant the paper had “live” illustrations for the next edition..."

Cook staged an exhibition of his work in London in 2005, and is currently planning another to cover his later work in Afghanistan. A 48-page colour catalogue accompanied the exhibition, with an introduction by military historian Professor Richard Holmes, author and presenter of the BBC TV series, In the Footsteps of Churchill.

You can view illustrations from the catalogue in the gallery (left) and order a copy of: Matthew Cook,The Times War Artist, at the special price of £9.99 plus free p&p (RRP £14.99) at www.timesonline.co.uk/booksfirst

Here Cook also writes of his thoughts on finding himself in the British War Cemeteries in both Iraqi and Afghanistan:

British War Cemetery, Basra, Iraq- 2003

"I jumped down from the turret of the Warrior, and squeezed through the rusty gate and entrance arch of Basra’s British War Cemetery. A large walled plot lay ahead, filled with rubble, rubbish, spiky bushes and wild dogs. I wondered where the graves were.

"Below my boots lay fragments of broken head stones and inscriptions, a pilot killed in 1920, a Seaman killed in 1943.

"A local Iraqi explained how Iranian artillery hit it many times in the 1980’s followed by looting of the lead lettering and stone in the 1990’s and years of neglect.

"It dawned on me, that what felt like a thoroughly modern war, was merely the latest in a long history of British conflicts. 2551 dead from the Mesopotamian Expeditionary Force who took Basra in 1914, and again, British troops stormed ashore in 1941.

"We sat in silence, and lost in thought, for the short drive back to the bombed Baath Party head quarters...."

British Cemetery, Kabul, Afghanistan- 2006

"The troops spread out and secured the wooden entrance gate before the Padre and Commanding Officer of the Royal Gloucester Berkshire Wiltshire Light Infantry (RGBWLI) crossed to a patch of newly painted white wall in the British Cemetery.

"They held up the memorial stone for one of their soldiers killed in an ambush, to confirm where it would be sited, next to other recent plaques. There would be a memorial service in a weeks time.

"The elderly care-taker, who had remained and continued to care for the plot during the Taliban rule, graciously took the money that the Colonel offered and we all climbed back in the Land Rovers and sat in silence for the short drive back to the Britfor (British Forces) head quarters...."

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