My son and his family were on a short trip to Chicago, Illinois. One of the places they were visiting was Millennium Park. He sent me one of the photographs that he had taken there and suggested that this might make an interesting subject for one of my colored pencil paintings. He was right, and this colored pencil piece, entitled "Chicago in the Round", is based on his photograph and was used with his blessings. Not only the image itself drew my attention, but the amazing blue colors of the sky in the original photograph also interested me. I wanted to emphasize this blue and chose to use an ancient and at one time a very expensive pigment. Ultramarine blue dates as far back as the 13th century and was originally made from the semiprecious stone lapis lazuli. I feel that this choice is perfect to enhance the reflected focus of the piece. The size of the artwork is 8 X 16 inches and was done on museum quality Grafix drafting film using Farber-castell Polychromos and Marshall pencils.