DC TRANSIT SNOW SWEEPER MAKES SWEET DREAMS

Happy New Year!  I've always wanted to paint a  streetcar snow sweeper and this one is broken down as the white stuff melts.

"DC Transit Snow Sweeper" oil on canvas ( 14" x 24") 2016

I love this Washington, D.C. intersection where New York Avenue, 13th St. and H Street meet. The building in the right background is now the National Museum of Women in the Arts.

I have a friend named Mike who grew up in DC and he says about that building,
"when I was a kid, it was the Town Theatre where I would occasionally go to see a movie.  It's one of those old buildings city planners targeted for demolition and replacement before mayor-for-life Barry got his historic building preservation legislation passed."

This intersection is close to where I frequently bought art supplies at the former Utrecht Linens at 13th & I st NW. When Utrecht opened in Baltimore I quit traveling to DC so much. But I have fond memories of that neighborhood. Fourteenth St. was still in business with a few "men's entertainment arcades." There was a bus station that  later had to make way for the Verizon Center construction. And parking all day was $7 on a gravel lot over on I street. From there I could walk to the mall for some great art exhibitions or just hang around to watch the life on the streets of NW DC. I was particularly fond of the area around the National Portrait Gallery. There were still small shops, stereo and liquor stores that were in their last days of existence. Those drowsy days of DC were indeed being swept away.

Drowsier Days of Washington, D.C.

Sometimes when I go to flea marts and various collectors' shows, there are pieces of Washington, D.C. ephemera that I cannot resist to buy. As a teen in the 1960s it was not unusual to visit our sleepy neighbor south of Baltimore on weekend nights because the legal drinking age was 18.   In Maryland at that time you had to be 21-years-old to sit and sip beer or wine on a barstool. So off we would go down route 295 for a night of drinking and getting lost on our way home. That was my first "adult" experience with our nation's capital. I never regarded it as a political hot spot in those days.  It was a town where people lived and worked and played despite having their traffic signals mounted on the side of the intersections. Pairing this experience with countless childhood school bus trips to the museums and monuments, I  regarded DC as a town for fun and shopping which was not Baltimore. And that's how I came to name my collage "Drowsier Days of D. C." It's familiar and it's what I know.

"Drowsier Days of D.C." (24" x 36")  mixed media on board 2014

That's the way I had it in my head until about 15-20 years ago when DC shed its heavy-eyed image with $5 parking lots for the wide-awake cosmopolitan scene with clattering construction sites.

The collage was an instant hit with visitors to my art show booth. There are various restaurants and clubs that represent a particular experience in the memories of many Washingtonians. Streetcar rides to Glen Echo, Griffith stadium or downtown hold a dear spot in the hearts of many. And I have also included some tv shows and personalities that we all tuned in to watch. People love to tell me their stories and I am eager to hear them. I sold the original collage recently, but I have poster size prints in my Etsy shop for sale for those who need to see this on their wall.

2014 Baltimore Calendar

Well it is here. My first wall calendar for 2014. Beginning with November 2013, it consists of Baltimore images from my original artwork.

Cover - unfolded - of Baltimore Calendar.

Package insert depicting all the images used inside the calendar.

Each month features a single, square image of one of my paintings. For example Domino Sugars is the image for November 2013. At the bottom of each month is a short description of the painting

and a bit of my stories about the picture. The calendar measures 10.5" high by 5.25" wide.

June 2014 might be the favorite month with many local Baltimoreans.

December 2014

So far the response has been very, very positive. I've been selling them at art fairs and shows in great numbers. You can find them in my Etsy shop. And they are also carried in some local shops and museums such as the Baltimore Museum of Art, With Gratitude, Hontown and the Baltimore Museum of Industry. The calendar price is $20.

For the cover I used a piece of my Food Galore collage which by now many of you have hanging in your homes and offices. I say this because sales of the poster size print have been very, very good since last year when it was introduced. And it really inspired me to do the calendar as a follow up project.

Food Galore in Baltimore

Thank you all for your wonderful enthusiasm and support of my work. I never stop being surprised that people like to look at what I need to create. Thank you again from the bottom of my Baltimore heart.

DC Transit - PCC Streetcars

For almost 100 years the District of Columbia, our nation’s capital, had a very successful streetcar line. The early cars were pulled on rails by horses until the introduction of electric streetcars at a later date. It was a first class operation with a large rolling stock of magnificently maintained PCC cars. I remember my father marveling about DC’s wonderful underground conduit collection (power source for the cars) which meant that the overhead wires were not necessary in the busiest parts of the city. The power was changed to overhead wires farther from the center of town. So when the trolley went out to Glen Echo Amusement Park for example the over head wires were called into service. That meant that the trolley pole was raised to meet the wires suspended from poles on the streets. It was an amazing sight to watch the switch.

SNOWY DECEMBER FOR PETER WITT

“Snowy December for Peter Witt”

oil on gessobord™ (24” x 12”)

Today when we saw some snow flurries while Christmas shopping, I immediately thought about streetcars carrying an over-abundance of riders at the height of the holiday season. I for one really miss the hustle and bustle of the crowds jammed into the buses and streetcars. During the month of December the regular riders were competing for seats with the package-laden shoppers who had spent their day buying gifts in all the stores and shops downtown. The big four department stores, Hutzler’s, Hochschild’s, Stewart’s and Hecht’s anchored the mobbed intersection of Howard and Lexington Streets. A white-gloved policeman was there to keep the pedestrians, cars and streetcars from colliding into each other. But at the end of the day which was perhaps punctuated by a lunch in Hutzler’s Quixie or the counter at Read’s Drugstore, weary men, women and children boarded their homeward bound streetcar hoping for a seat to rest their tired feet. It was a long ride with many stops but at this time of year there was always a view of holiday decorations and lights.

Some readers here may be wondering who the heck is Peter Witt? Well according to my fellow members at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum he was a Cleveland citizen who designed this forward thinking streetcar which was named after him. Its original purpose was to keep the streetcars running on time by using the center door as an exit only. An additional conductor sat near the center door until the depression came and that position was eliminated. But nevertheless these gorgeous cars kept on carrying passengers in all kinds of weather around Baltimore. But I think that the Peter Witt looks its best in the snow.