RMW Ramblings

 A Mini Art Colony Wilmington's 2600 Block W 18th St   Our 2600 W 18th St block in Wilmington has long been a small arts colony. Previous residents have included artists Ralph Scharff, Richard Layton, Victor Lentonoff, John Matassa, and Margo Mavrantonis Johnson (still active.) Some of my own paintings have been of this block. We'll visit some of them in future posts. Here's one of my paintings from this block.  

  Mauve Evening Mauve Evening   was painted to fit a found frame.  

  Three Whimsies Usually when I start a painting I have a plan, or at least, a concept for the compl et ed work.  But on occasion I just make something up on the spot, often something whimsical.  Here are three paintings done on such a whim. Dollie is acrylic on Masonite with a spray painted matte black ground coat.  Is she an angel, a barrister, a cleric? My signature monogram is a stylized angel.   Fluer is also acrylic on a black ground, this time on a wooden craft store plaque.  She is haloed with an arc of flowers also from my imagination. The Gardiner is also acrylic on Masonite, now with a spray painted copper ground.  For The Gardiner I made a frame from scraps of molding from an earlier project.    I spray painted it gold, then added color highlights to the berries and tendrils.  

 Post Offices Past Some once small communities bordering Wilmington once had their own post offices and postal addresses. The Highlands, now a Wilmington neighborhood, was once a separate community with its own post office. Here is an 1886 envelope postmarked from Highlands from Joseph Bancroft & Sons Co. to Pusey & Jones Co. from 1886. Our own Highlands. house was built around 1882. Notice that neither businesses required a street address.   Several years back the Montchanin Post Office left their old train station location in Montchanin and relocated in Breck's Mill along the Brandywine in the old community Henry Clay. Montchanin is a PO Box only station with its own zip code but no delivery area. From 1851 to 1924 Henry Clay had its own Post Office. Here's an envelope postmarked August 27, 1914 from Henry Clay .  Highlands became part of Wilmington early in the 20th century.  Henry Clay remains just outside the Wilmington city limits and is p...

  Baby Bubbles

  Choir of Angels Traditionally, paintings and sculpture have depicted angels with bird-like wings emerging from their shoulder blades, lacking the torsral musculature that would be necessary for actual flight.  This representation is symbolic, not realistic. Many of my Christmas paintings and Christmas cards have depicted angels.  I have used a range of angelic representations, frequently departing from the traditional and moving on in symbolism. A traditional representation is Gabriel in this painting Virgin Annunciate .  The Holy Spirit is represented by a dove hovering between Gabriel's wings.     Also in a traditional representation, is the angel from my painting Annuciato ut Pastores dominating the scene.       In my painting For Unto Us celebrating George Frideric Handel's oratorio, Messiah, s mall heavenly  angels join the terrestrial musicians to frame the composer/conductor.    The wings on this angel from a...

  The Secret Garden Coulisse Earlier this year ( https://rmw-ramblings.blogspot.com/2024/07/over-mantle-secret-garden.html ) I posted my painting The Secret Garden."       For a Christmas present for great-granddaughter Alaina, who is in the painting with her great-grandmother, I created a coulisse version. The scene is reconstructed in layers similar to theatrical sets.  Using Photoshop I modified the image to achieve an aspect ration to fit an 8 x 10 inch frame, then made three prints for the three layers.  Each layer was laminated to black foam core,   The assembled layers were attached to the back of an 8 x 10 inch frame under glass.