The Ghost Army unit proved to be a fruitful creative environment. Steg, along with his comrades Bill Blass and Jack Masey, organized temporary exhibitions of their wartime art; one was staged in the attic of a deserted church. During this time, Steg created his first mature body of work, a series of graphite and watercolor portraits of civilians, soldiers, and refugees that he called "spontaneous impressions." These works are given a haunting quality with context, as many of the Russian refugee subjects portrayed (who often signed their own names next to Steg's) would not survive their return to Russia.