Needlerock, Colorado

An energetic, contemporary and vibrant representation of beautiful Needlerock near Crawford, Colorado. Needlerock is an iconic, towering rock spire that rises from the western edge of Colorado’s West Elk Mountains. According to Wikipedia (the source of all knowledge – haha), the massive rock feature originated in the Oligocene geological epoch when magma intruded between existing sedimentary rocks as the crown of a buried laccolith.

For this portrait, I’ve contrasted the glowing rock and its delicate, surrounding terrain with a velvet sky that is sprinkled with multi-colored stars on its raised surface texture. This painting is 16 x 20 inches on a 1.5 inch cradled, wooden gesso board. It ships from Paonia, Colorado. Please swipe through the photos to see this work of art in process, in sample rooms and frames, and watch the video below to hear me chat about some of my night sky process. Enjoy!