A Christmas Past


 A Christmas Past



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Greek Festival Week

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  Greek Festival Week This week is the annual Greek Festival at Wilmington's Holy Trinity Church.  I've painted the church twice, each one commissioned by a Holy Trinity parishioner.  A line of Greek dancers at the festival were elements of both paintings. A detail from the first painting, a watercolor on paper...  And a detail from the second painting, acrylic on canvas, now with ancient Greek dancers meeting the modern folk dancers...  Here's the second painting in its entirety...  Opa! Opa!
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Views of 18th Street

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  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 ...
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Artists of W 18th St: Ralph Scharff

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 Artists of W 18th Street Ralph Scharff   When Mary and I were newly married, living in a trailer while I was in graduate school, she told me about an inspiring art teacher she had at Ursuline Academy in Wilmington, Ralph Scharff.  Scharff was a rara avis at Ursuline at that time, not a nun, not female, and very outspoken.  Mary described him as an active instructor who fully expressed his opinions. [Ralph had served in World War II in Burma and had suffered from leg injuries later exasperated by diabetes.  He later lost his leg.]    Mary has more stories to share over a drink. A few years later after we had moved back to Wilmington our next door 18th St neighbor died and his wife moved out, renting out the house.  The new residents were Ralph, his wife, Carole, son Sean, and daughter Kevin.  They soon became good friends.  Kevin was near our daughters in age and became second generation friends in our family.  The Scharffs had fam...
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