RMW Ramblings

  Seasonal Painting Change 2 Ending the Christmas season in our dining room, Annunciato ut Pastores has come down... Arrival of the Guests has gone up... The couple have arrived at a Venice palazzo by motor launch.  What is the event?  Who are the women greeting them?  And who are the couple?

  Seasonal Painting Change 1 I frequently change the paintings we hang in the house, especially before and after the Christmas holiday season.  Today I replaced Virgin Annunciate ... With Beth Salem... The paintings, both on thin plywood panels, occupy the same frame, with the out of season painting behind the current display.  The title plaques above the paintings are also switched front to back. Virgin Annunciate shows the visit of the archangel Gabriel to tell Mary of her destiny.  His greeting, which now forms part of the Hail Mary prayer, is shown in Latin and Greek.  There are several Marian symbols including  the crushed snake, twelve stars, and rose pattern.  Here is the titular plaque with a flash forward to the Holy Family...... The frame is modified from a calendar display enclosure rescued from a clearance sale. Beth Salem is an allegorical representation of our home, a "house of peace."  The the upper of the two bands across the bott...

  Bringing Home the Christmas Tree Our First Christmas In December 1961 Mary and I had been married less than a year.  We dove into having a family Christmas before we had a family.  Here is a reconstruction of our bringing home the Christmas tree from our 2011 Christmas card.

  Alexa y Frida Today is granddaughter Alexis' birthday.   In 2017 we went with Alex to a Frida Kahlo exhibit at the [Salvador] Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, FL Alex had her hair up in a bun, not here usual look.  Among the many Frida Kahlo self-portraits I saw a slight resemblance. I later painted this dual portrait, copying one of Kahlo's paintings.  Here Here is an in progress photo...   Under the Frida portrait I signed the painting with a metal plaque with "AyF" and "RMW" monograms.  

  Bring Home the Christmas Tree  Early 1970s Five years ago our Christmas card  reflected an early Christmas 1970s bringing home event.

  Bringing Home the Christmas Tree Christmas 1963 O ur 2023 Christmas cards were mailed out last week, remembering our 1963 Christmas. We'll be looking at other "bringing home" cards later.

  Apotheosis This group or triptych comprises three acrylic paintings on canvasboard.  The subject evolved after the painting was initiated.  I painted the background on the panels in phthalo green, phthalo blue, and a mixture to create the teal background in the center panel.  Then I did some sketching   . In the upper left are thoughts about the orientation of the panels.  I considered and abandoned a child and a classical Greek horse for the center panel.  The peacock evolved from the color palette. The title Apotheosis I cribbed from the large N.C. Wyeth mural Apotheosis of the Family that covered a large expanse of wall in the Wilmington Savings Fund Society (now WSFS Bank) then on Market St. in Wilmington.  It now is at the Historical Society of Wilmington.