Ace Drummond Contemplates Mongolia's Mysterious Mountain of Jade Painting

A fellow who ran into a burning New York barn only to discover the livestock found their own way out; unintentionally sprang his girlfriend from solitary in a Maine county jail; raced cars ingloriously at Moroso and Lime Rock; awoke in a remote Burmese pagoda just as dawn lit the face of a towering Buddha who'd also been sitting there in the dark; owned the '27 Buick Phaeton in which Sir Lawrence traversed Arabian sands, and stole through the night to stand alone in Emerson's garden, aboard the USS Constellation, on Burnside's Bridge, and -- most memorably -- in the theater box where Lincoln was shot. As a fledgling artist, Wellikoff was awarded for excellence by a juried panel at the Maryland State Fair. His first painting (other than for finger painting) portrayed his late father-in-law -- a WWII Navy pilot -- standing on a carrier deck before his Avenger bomber. Today, Wellikoff tends to paint whatever draws his fancy for whatever aesthetic, cultural or historic(al) import it holds for him. His work, which won two Silver Awards from Redditt, has been sold here on Saatchi and through galleries in Maryland and Florida. Recently completed: "Banjo Picker," oil-on-canvas