Artist's Concepts by Dave Blanke

06/05/2024

07/17/2023

01/15/2023

The phrase "Revolutions make for strange bedfellows" may explain why there is a statue of 18th century British Parliamentarian Edmund Burke at the junction of 11th Street and Massachusetts Avenue here in Washington, D.C.

Born in Dublin, Ireland on this day in 1729 to a prestigious family, Burke graduating from Dublin’s Trinity College in 1748 and moved to England to study law. Although Burke never practiced law, his opinions on history, politics, and rights influenced the Enlightenment in England. Elected to Parliament in 1765, Burke served there for 30 years. During the American Revolution, Burke spoke out in Parliament on behalf of the colonies. He agreed that "taxation without representation" was unfair and that a violent response by the British Army to American demands would make independence all but inevitable. When the conflict boiled over, he tried to broker peace and when the war was over, Burke encouraged trade and peaceful relations between Britain and her former colonies.

The statue of Edmund Burke in Washington, D.C. is a copy of an 1894 statue in Bristol, England by Welsh sculptor John Harvard Thomas. In the wake of America and Britain fighting together in World War I, the statue of Burke was presented to the United States in 1922. It now stands in our nation's capital to remind us of the complicated history and enduring friendship between our two great countries.

Photo by National Park Service.

01/15/2023

01/10/2023

Before AutoCAD.

01/02/2023

in 1773, holiday visitors amused themselves by competing to see who could throw an iron bar furthest across Mount Vernon’s lawn.
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Washington approached the group to take a turn; the heavy iron bar “whizzed through the air, striking the ground far, very far, beyond our utmost limits.”⁣
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As he walked away, Washington quipped, “When you beat my pitch, young gentlemen, I’ll try again.”⁣
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Read more here: https://bit.ly/3s4KNT0

(Image Credits)⁣
George Washington as Colonel in the Virginia Regiment, Charles Willson Peale, 1772. Washington-Custis-Lee Collection, Washington and Lee University, Lexington VA. Object identifier U1897.1.1

11/25/2022

“It is much easier at all times to prevent an evil than to rectify mistakes. It is infinitely better to have a few good Men, than many indifferent ones.” George Washington, Letter to James McHenry, August 10, 1798

Compliments of George Washington Society

11/25/2022

In 1789, President George Washington, on behalf of Congress, issued a Thanksgiving Proclamation designating Thursday, November 26, as a national day of "public thanksgiving and prayer." ⁣

Washington wanted this day to be “observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.⁣⁣”⁣

Later, President Abraham Lincoln took steps toward designating it as a permanent federal holiday.⁣ ⁣
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Learn more: https://bit.ly/3Cb3dou

(Image Credits)⁣
"George Washington (Vaughan portrait)" by Gilbert Stuart, 1795. Courtesy of National Gallery of Art.
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10/04/2022

Who Socialist Democrats really are.

09/23/2022

I don't recognize any familiar posts on FB anymore. Everything that I follow has gone missing. When I posted my Republican Club meeting then it disappeared. Time to move on.