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Stations of the Flag: Apollo 11

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  Stations of the Flag Apollo 11 Our last stop on the Stations of the Flag is a quarter of a million miles away, on the surface of the Moon.  On July 20, 1969. Several hours after  the Eagle had landed, many of us watched on television as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin planted the American flag on the surface of the Moon.  This iconic photo, showing the flag with Buzz Aldrin, was taken by Neil Armstrong.   The surface was too hard for the flag assembly to get a firm purchase and there was concern that it would topple over on camera.  It did survive, but did fall from the blast of the lunar module's launch to rendezvous  with the command module. Five other US flags have been planted on the Moon, all now bleach white from solar radiation.  Conspiracy proponents have claimed that the landing was faked in a studio, citing perceived irregularities in the flag's display.  Unlike some other parts of the American Flag mythos, the planting of the Apol...
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Stations of the Flag: Iwo Jima

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  Stations of the Flag Iwo Jima Next on our Stations of the Flag tour we move from painted and post card imagery to photography, and from Maryland to the far side of the Pacific in World War II.  On February 23, 1945 Associated Press photographer Joe Rosenthal took this iconic photograph of USS Marines raising the flag on the crest of Iwo Jima's Mount Suribachi. The image has been adapted many times, on stamps, coins, posters, and most famously of all, as the inspiration for the Marine Corps War Memorial near the entrance to Arlington National Cemetery.     You can buy a kitsch version through Amazon.         The flag of World War II had 48 stars.    
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Stations of the Flag: Barbara Fritchie

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  Stations of the Flag Barbara Fritchie           The October 1863 issue of The Atlantic Monthly added the next station of our American Flag mythos with the publication of John Greenleaf Whittier's poem "Barbara Fritchie."  In the poem Fritchie calls to the passing Confederate invasion, "Shoot if you must this old gray head, but spare your country's flag." The actual event was not as Whittier poetically presented.  The details are murky, and the confrontation with the rebel army may have been from another woman (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barbara_Fritchie). But along with Betsy Ross, Barbara Fritchie is now firmly part  of the American Flag tradition.  Here's a Barbara Fritchie post card from my collection  The American Flag at that time...    Fritchie died a few days after the alleged incident and well before the publication of Whittier's poem, never to know she had been immortalized in our country's flag cano...
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Stations of the Flag: Fracis Scott Key and "The Star Spangled Banner"

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  Stations of the Flag Francis Scott Key and The Star Spangled Banner O n September 14, 1814 lawyer Francis Scott Key was trapped on the British ship HMS Tonnant where he was negotiating the release of a friend being held by the British.  Through the night he witnessed the British bombardment of Baltimore's Fort McHenry.  Observing that "the flag was still there" when the battle was over, Key composed the lyrics of "The Star Spangled Banner" which was set to the music of the British "The  Anacreontic Song."  In 1931 "The Star Spangled Banner" was officially adopted as our national anthem. The flag that Key saw had 15 stars and 15 stripes, two additional stars and stripes were added following the admission of Vermont and Kentucky to the Union.   In my post card collection is this image of the Fort McHenry flag at the Smithsonian long before its 1999-2008 restoration. It is well documented that the flag was made by Baltimore seamstress Mary You...
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Stations of the Flag: Betsy Ross

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  Stations of the Flag Betsy Ross In March of 1870 William Canby   read a paper to the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, "The History of the Flag of the United States," the first presentation of "the well sustained tradition in the family of Elizabeth Claypoole (the Elizabeth Ross) [Canby's grandmother] this lady is the one to whom belongs the honor of having made with her own hands the first flag."  By the the 1876 Centennial, that "tradition" became a permanent part of America's flag lore. Canby's story has not otherwise been confirmed, but it is documented that Betsy Ross did make some ships flags.  The flag with a circle of 13 stars is popularly called the Betsy Ross flag.  The original flag declaration did not specify the stars' pattern or the stars' shape.  Documented is the 3:2:3:2:3 pattern in 1777. Some early flags had six pointed stars and other variations.  Part of the Betsy Ross flag tradition is that she suggested the fiv...
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Stations of the Flag; The Flag Declaration

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 Stations of the Flag   Today is Flag Day, to be followed by Flag Week.  It is the 249th anniversary of the Continental Congress adopting the flag.  From 1775 till 1776 the  Continental Union\n flag was the unofficial flag at sea for the American colonies.  The "Union" refers to both the canton Union Jack of England and Scotland, with the added stripes for the associated 13 colonies.  While at first it represented the American colonies as part of the United Kingdom, It became the banner of American rebellion.
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Paintings With Glyphs 1

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Paintings With Glyphs 1 Often in my paintings I incorporate glyphs, small line-work elements.  Here are two paintings with glyphs based on actual American Indian petroglyphs spanning the continent. Girl of the Susquehanna  is a painting that occasional hangs over the fireplace at our summer cottage near the top of the Chesapeake Bay.  the Susquehanna enters the Chesapeake just a few miles away.   The scattered glyphs are modeled on petroglyphs from two locations on the Susquehanna River, Bald Friar, in Harford County, MD, and Safe Harbor, in Lancaster County, PA.  The Bald Friar petroglyphs were removed from the river when the Conowingo Dam was built in 1928 and are now in a museum.  The Safe Harbor petroglyphs remain in place and can be accessed by boat.  In my painting I have added color; the originals are cut into rock, not painted.   Canyon Greeting  is set across the country overlooking the Grand Canyon.    The glyphs here are ...
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