RMW Ramblings

Ristorante Attilio When Mary and I make a last minute decision to go out to dinner, frequently Attilio's, an informal family Italian restaurant in Wilmington, is our default choice.   We often run into friends, sometimes ending up joining them for dinner.   The place sees old couples, young families with kids just after their sports event, office groups, and multigenerational family birthday gatherings.   The room joined with our family in a "Happy Birthday" sing there for my 80 th birthday in 2018. When the place is busy enough that we need to wait for a table we often park at the kitchen end of the bar and try to stay out of the way of the busy wait staff.   One evening I snapped a few pictures while we were standing there which I later used to reconstruct the hubbub in this painting.   I gave Mary and me seats in the foreground, and Gabriella was behind the bar, but otherwise the background crowd and the bar denizens are made up. I signed the painting wi...

  The Gardener The Gardener, a 4x6 acrylic sketch framed with scrap moulding from an earlier project.

 Carl Larsson Art With My Remarques Carl Larsson was a turn of the 20th century artist in the spirit of the Arts & Crafts movement.  He is best known for his depictions of domestic life at his family's home, Lilla Hyttnäs in Sundborn, Sweden.  We have visit his home, now a museum, and have a collection of books of his art and life, and several prints of his art. I made two large prints from images on a Larsson calendar which I scanned and printed at high resolution on an oversized printer.  Since the aspect ratio of the images did not correspond to that of the frames I was using, I provided an oversized border on one edge of each and painted on each my own remarques in Larsson's style, themed from details in Larsson's painting.  I've never heard of prints being remarqued by other then the original artist, but I suppose that some have been fraudulently done and passed along as being from the artist's own hand.  I had no intent to deceive; these were don...

  Rockford Centennial Remarque A remarque is a small painting or drawing added by the artist to the edge of a print to customize it. I recently did remarque sketches on a few of my Rockford Centennial prints from 2002 as a fund raising donation.    

  Handel and Easter A favorite of my paintings is my portrait of Handel, For Unto Us, referencing George Frideric Handel's The Messiah.   My painting title refers to a chorus in Part 1 of the work, which corresponds to Advent and Christmas.   The Messiah is traditionally performed in that season.  But the most popular and familiar chorus, "Hallelujah," dramatically concludes Part 2, which relates to Lent, Easter, the Resurrection, and Pentecost, here from my score from the 1950s. I have provided Georg Fridric with a small chorus and an accompanying orchestral ensemble.    I created a monogram for the maestro and I signed with a corresponding personal monogram symmetrically akimbo to Handel’s torso.   Two angels join the performance from above.   A rank of organ pipes halos Handel’s powdered coif. I wanted Handel to have a baroque setting, but not a traditional ornate baroque frame. I painted a baroque-revival “crest” on Masonite which is now s...

  The Three Graces I've painted the fountain in Josephine Gardens (our last post) a few times before. The Three Graces is a watercolor sketch from 2006.  

  Josephine Spring Josephine Garden and Fountain are a major attraction in Wilmington's Brandywine Park, especially when the cherry trees are in bloom.  They were donated in 1933 by Col. J. Ernest Smith as a memorial to his late wife, Josephine Tatnall Smith Here is my Josephine Spring, acrylic/mixed media on canvas. .Happy vernal equinox and welcome to spring!