Deep Prairie Roots

Acrylic on 14" x 18" on cradled wood panel

"Deep Prairie Roots" was chosen as winner in the juried 2022 Symphony in the Flint Hills Prairie Art Exhibit and Auction in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas.

The Flint Hills are an expansive wonder: beautiful skies, miles of low rolling hills, fields of swaying grasses. These wide-open spaces feel like home to me. But there is more than meets the eye. According to the National Park Service, “three quarters of the prairie biomass … is the root system. The visible plants on the landscape are merely the photosynthetic leaves gathering sunlight." This painting is about the expanse beneath the surface: deep, sturdy roots providing a solid, efficient, adaptable foundation for the prairie – the part of the prairie we can’t see but is just as important, just as inspiring.