This scene is painted from the perspective of a walkway high above the busy freeways, viewing westward as the sun sets over Kansas City. The skyline in the distance is something of a sentinel, keeping watch over the expansive prairie.

The idea for this painting occurred to me one day as I was headed home from the eastern outskirts of town. I’ve passed this way many times from the stadium complex, but that evening the sun was setting after a storm had passed through. I searched for the highest elevation I could find, and took several photos to use as a reference.

Once I began painting back in the studio, I realized that my pictures just wouldn’t do justice to the actual scene. Because of the large size of the canvas, working en plein air wasn’t a viable option. So, for this painting I chose to use a lot of imagination and a lot of color. Several additional trips were required for me to capture the traffic and lighting elements I wanted to include.

This piece was created almost exclusively using palette knives. The result is a very thick application of paint, which gives it a lot of texture that isn’t evident in the photograph. It has been displayed in a couple of local venues, and the vibrant sunset, the movement of the traffic, and depth of the miles-long subject matter are the key features of this painting.

It sells in a clear-stained maple wood box frame. Free shipping anywhere in the continental United States.