RMW Ramblings

  Mariposa Mariposa is an  8 x 10 inch Southwestern themed  painting of an imaginary Indian woman.  I painted the frame turquoise and  decorated it with copper tacks.

  Bicycling in Wilmington The 15th annual Wilmington Grande Prix is this weekend, a  US Cycling Club event, part of their national tour.  The professional race is accompanied by local bike events and activities.  In years past Wilmington was a stop on the Tour duPont, later the Tour Du Trump. Back in the 1970s during one of the oil crises, I rode my bike to work, a dangerous and sweaty activity on the hilly local roads.  Here is a biker caricature I  did at the time...

  More California Poppies A Berkeley Panorama On a recent post ( https://rmw-ramblings.blogspot.com/2023/05/california-poppies.html ) there was a painting of California poppies and Mt. Shasta.  An earlier painting with foreground poppies, Fiat Lux, is this panorama overlooking Berkeley, California.   Fiat Lux is the motto of the University of California, Berkeley.  The painting is on a panel that I inset in a bookshelf/peg-strip at our cottage.

  Rockford Tower Visitors Commemorating the re-opening of Rockford Tower to visitors in 2002, I painted this visualization of  1902 opening day visitors on the observation deck.       During a Wilmington Flower Market I later photographed modern visitors to the observation deck.

A Wilmington Flower Market Memory   In earlier years, the Wilmington Flower Market was preceded by a rotogravure supplement to to Wilmington Journal Every Evening with ads in support of the event. Most were photos of the business owners, patrons, and staff on site. Here is my great-aunt Reba (center, behind the counter) at Steinle's on King St in a clipping my mother saved from the early 1950s. The sepia tone is typical of gravure ink of that time. Mom didn't save the caption, so I can't identify anyone else.  

  Winter Dreams of Flower Market This is Flower Market week in Wilmington.  This charity fund raising event has run for over 100 years, and for over 60 years in Rockford Park with the iconic Rockford Tower.  It has grown beyond flower sales to include food, rides, games, and more.   Rockford Park also has the most popular sledding hill in the city.  Here w inter sledding kids see phantom Flower Market tents and rides.    

      California Poppies This year's heavy rainfall initiated a "superbloom" of wildflowers in California (https://www.cnn.com/2023/04/20/us/california-superbloom-flowers-climate/index.html) especially California poppies ( Eschscholzia californica ),  A photo on the news link reminds me of a painting I did of Mt Shasta.  The link was sent to me by our son-in-law Bill, who with Maura own the painting.