Dreams of an Improbable Past Painting

A fellow who inadvertantly sprang his girlfriend from solitary in a Maine county jail; ran solo into a burning New York barn only to discover the livestock had found their own way out; raced cars ingloriously at Moroso and Lime Rock; awoke in a remote Burmese pagoda just as dawn struck the face of a road-movie 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 on Little Round Top, in Emerson's garden, aboard the USS Constellation and -- most unforgettably -- in the theater box in which Lincoln was shot. As an fledgling artist, Wellikoff was once awarded for excellence by a juried panel at the Maryland State Fair and twice given silver status by Redditt. His first painting was a portrait of his father-in-law, a WWII Navy pilot, standing before his carrier-borne Avenger bomber. Today, Wellikoff tends to paint whatever draws his fancy for its aesthetic, cultural and historic significance and sense of whimsy or irony. Wellikoff's work has been sold through horse-country galleries in Maryland and Virginia.