Peel Out 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 massive road-movie Buddha who was also sitting there in the dark; owned the 1927 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 where Lincoln was shot. As a fledgling artist, Wellikoff was awarded for excellence by a juried panel at the Maryland State Fair. His first work portrayed his father-in-law -- a WWII Navy pilot -- as he stood before his Avenger bomber. Today, Wellikoff tends to paint whatever draws his fancy for its aesthetic, cultural and historic significance and sense of whimsy or irony. His work has been sold here on Saatchi Art as well as through horse-country galleries in Maryland and Virginia. Painting: "Ypres, 1915" oil-on-canvas.