West Texas isn't timid with its vast horizons and dramatic skies. The mountains can add their own drama, but in this stretch of flats outside Fort Davis, it was the solitary windmill that stole the sunset show that evening. Aeromotor windmills like this one are as native to Texas as I am, so I'm always proud to be able to include one in a landscape.

Nocturnal scenes can be tricky. If you show too much, the painting loses the mystery of darkness. So while the grassy pasture in the foreground is detailed, dark colors take backstage to the white hot mass of sunlight behind the windmill. This invites introspection as well as pulling you in toward that windmill. Even the blues and violets in the large mass of sky are moving toward the windmill, the one thing in this ranch country flatland that dares to reach for the sky.