On a trip to D.C. one summer I went to see the local sites and when I came upon the Washington Monument, was awestruck. I saw it at night and with the display lights shining on it, it looked translucent to me. I couldn't get enough of it visually. I wanted to try and capture some of that; I had to come home and paint it. But since I am in the habit of painting alien landscapes, I felt compelled to add a couple of flying saucers.