Hill Top’s Former Glory was featured at the 2019 Rocky Mountain National Watermedia show held September 13 through October 26, 2019, at the Center for the Arts, Evergreen, Colorado. Sterling Edwards was the show’s juror.

This painting was so fun to paint – a real puzzle to pull apart. How to capture the raised glass tubing and its cast shadow to give the appearance of the sign coming alive in three dimensions? I ended up painting much of this painting upside down to fool my brain into painting the shapes rather than what I thought I saw. I’m pretty happy with the outcome – one of my favorite paintings to date.

The subject is the fabulous neon sign that still stands along the currently-shuttered Hill Top Motel in Kingman, Arizona. I had the great pleasure of photographing this sign and the motel during a wonderful photo workshop along Route 66 (www.californiaphotographyworkshops.com).