RMW Ramblings

  Cards of Christmas Past Everywhere Another screen print from the 1970's, this time two printings for the front and the inside with different inks.  Here''s the front...     And here, in a different ink, is the inside...   I like the heavier ink print with some dimensional texture from screen printing.

  Cards of Christmas Past Awake!   For Christmas 1974 I again did a serigraphic print.  Above is the front of the card.  Inside is a more elaborate scene.   The card was printed all on one side of standard 8½ x 11 inch cardstock.  Then by folding the card in thirds the mountain sunrise becomes the inside of the card.  it then fits a standard #10 envelope. Here's the full sheet, unfolded... The center section becomes the back of the card.  It has the year and a version of our family monogram star.  You can see, it could be folded to make the mountain scene the front and the dove the inside.  

  Cards of Christmas Past The Magi In 1966 we were now living in Wilmington and I was still printing with linoleum block cuts. This card, no longer monochrome, was printed in four stampings. Multiple printing steps and multiple colors. The three magi were printed with the same linocut with different inks, phthalo blue, phthalo green, and (the middle figure) a blend. The star was printed with  a separate small linoleum block.   Here's the magus printing block...     Earlier, our 1964 linocut card was still printed in a single color but I added some golden rays with a pen...     With this text inside, the printing block reversed here for readability...    About the same time, I began printing a family monogram on the envelope flap for the card mailing...    We'll be transitioning to serigraphic printed cards next.    

  61 Years of Christmas Cards Our 2021 Christmas cards are now printed and soon to be addressed and mailed, the 61st year of our home brewed cards.  Over the next few weeks we'll revisit some of cards of earlier years and the variety of printing methods that we have used.

  International House The Goines Posters The Thanksgiving through Christmas season is the time when we remember what we are grateful for as we send end of the year charitable contributions.   My educational opportunities were a blessing for me and my family.  A part of this was the year I lived at International House in Berkeley. (https://ihouse.berkeley.edu/), a remarkable institution which I support annually.   For the 50th and 75th anniversary of I-House, the talented graphic designer David Lance Goines produced and printed limited editions of commemorative  posters for the occasions.  As both an I-House supporter and a graphics design affectionato I purchased each when issued.     I didn't know if either I or Goines would be around for a 100th anniversary poster, but last year a 90th anniversary poster was produced as a fund raiser for International House by Goines and I bought it.      I encourage you to learn more about Intern...

  Bridges of the Brandywine Framed For display at a gallery and other exhibitions, I built this frame for the Bridges of the Brandywine pictorial map. I applied metal "bridgework" onto the wood frame that I sized to accommodate a print of the pictomap with a surrounding map.  The metal components are pieces of an incomplete Erector set that I found at an outdoor flea market.  Before applying them to the wood frame I spray painted them with a textured green paint similar to the green paint used by Delaware on many of our bridges.    

    Bridges of the Brandywine The September 2nd flood on the Brandywine seriously damaged the footbridge that gives access to Alapocas Park from the Highlands side of the river. It is now closed. That bridge, and all of the other bridges over the Delaware section of the Brandywine, appear on a pictorial map of the Brandywine I published in 2006. The footbridge, number 9 on the map, originally served the Bancroft Mills, as did a second bridge downstream, number 10, viewable by hiking along the riverfront trail in Alapocas Park.. I researched the pictomap by photographing the existing bridges, and researched the now gone historic bridges at the Delaware Historical Society and the Hagley Museum & Library.  I painted individual watercolors of the bridges depicted and assembled the map digitally.  The key to the bridges in the upper right corner is modeled on Delaware's historical markers that you see along our streets and roads. The iron girder pattern on the borde...