"Die, Die, My Monster" 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, road-movie Buddha who'd also been sitting there in the dark; owned the '27 Buick Phaeton in which Lawrence traversed Arabian sands, and stole through the night to stand alone in Emerson's garden, aboard the USS Constellation, on Burnside 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 serious painting portrayed his late father-in-law -- a WWII naval aviator -- standing before his Avenger bomber. Using fat oils over a leaner layer of water-soluble ones prior to varnishing, Wellikoff's boards and canvases portray whatever strikes his fancy for its aesthetic, cultural and/or historic(al) import. 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