RMW Ramblings

  Beth Salem Beth Salem is an allegory of our home of peace. Her halo is a circular reinterpretation of the transom and door windows in our library. She holds her hand out to the dove of peace. Below her is a sweep of family scenes from our early days inside and outside our home. The supporting brackets copy the corbels that edge our roofline. The painting is on a thin wood panel. It, and the black label at the top of the frame, are seasonally exchanged with a Christmas themed wood panel painting and label stored in the back of the frame.

  Carnevale di Venezia Carnevale di Venezia , acrylic on 10 x 8 canvasboard, with heavy use of metallic paints.

 Artists of W 18th Street Revisited Mary and I had a mid-afternoon dinner last Sunday at Buckley's Tavern in Centerville and were conveniently seated by the fireplace with Dick Layton's ( https://rmw-ramblings.blogspot.com/2025/02/artiists-of-w-18th-st-richard-layton.html) tempera painting "Old Centerville in the Days of Doc Chandler."   I photographed it so I can now share it with you.  A few days later artist friend Margo Mavrantonis Johnson ( https://rmw-ramblings.blogspot.com/2025/02/artists-of-w-18th-street-margo.html) stopped by. I commemorated her visit by transporting her wandering snowman  to Rockford Tower.  

  Artists of W 18th Street Margo Mavrantonis Johnson Margo Mavrantonis Johnson is a W 18th St artist who is still active, although no longer living on our block.  Margo is retired from her art teaching career but continues to paint professionally.  She paints a variety of subjects, but my favorites are the structures and streetscapes from her frequent European trips, especially to her second home, Greece.  We treasure her Christmas cards which depict a peripatetic snowman who has visited New Castle, Tuscany and Greece, but has yet to experience a meltdown.       Margo has a studio and gallery representation in the Opera House, 304 Delaware  Street in old New Castle, Delaware, and a web site at https://margojohnson.artspan.com/exhibits.html.  There is an extensive gallery of her work there.      

 Artists of W 18th Street John Matassa  Several years after Ralph Scharff moved from 2625 W 18th St another artist and family moved in.  John Matassa wasn't a native of the area, but paintings of the landscape and architecture of the Brandywine Valley were part of his eclectic output.  I remember John more for his drawings than his paintings. He was born and received his art education in New England, but had a career as an art teacher at Wilmington Friends School in parallel to his professional art career. We do not own any of John's art, but a portfolio of detailed Delaware steamboat paintings are posted at https://steamboats.com/museum/matassa1.html.  I have not been able to find the back story for this collection or its present location.  Several are clearly marked "Wilson Line," the Wilmington based steamship line founded in the 1880s and lasting until the 1960s.  Here is the "City of Wilmington."    Hagley Museum owns a John Matassa Draw...

  Views of 18th Street   Our block is the upper end of W 18th St which terminates at Mount Salem Lane. This has given it a bit of an enclosed enclave vibe, where for a time the kids owned the street. And as we've been seeing, several accomplished professional artists have been part of this little community. I have taken this block as a subject for art itself in watercolors, acrylics, Christmas cards, and crafts. Here is a watercolor view of the north side of the block that I painted for a Christmas card.  The houses and the walking couple were painted separately, then scanned and combined digitally. This allowed me to experiment with placement of the figures and alternative foreground subjects like sledders. The Christmas card prompted  J oe Harris, who with his family lived across the street, to suggest that I paint a winter view of their side.  This view is in acrylic on canvasboard.  The most prominent house here is the Harris's, and the car belongs ...