Christmas at the Courthouse by Mark Keathley

One of our favorite traditions when the kids were little, was make a thermos of hot cocoa and a run to the corner store for a giant candy cane and head out to see the lights. The last couple of years have been in the back of a topless Jeep decked out with its own Christmas lights and holiday music playing on the stereo while we are all wrapped up in a blanket. Victoria Texas has a few delightful light displays, but if you drive out of the city to some of the neighboring small towns, you find Courthouse squares all lit up to delight the tax payers. Here in Christmas at the Courthouse, the county courthouse in Prescott,  Arizona is alive with thousands of glistening lights. I painted over 1800 individual lights to recreate the wonder of it all. Like bugs, we are all drawn to the light. In a world that grows darker with the passing of each year, the twinkling of holiday lights appeals to us at a deeper level. Our souls delight in the contrast of light and dark - and each of us gets to chose our place in the wonderful display of human kind.

~ Mark Keathley