“In the black night, I would see pretty things out there. They were like my Christmas trees, almost,” reflected Grammer. Those “trees,” with their enticing lights, were oil derricks that Grammer glimpsed from his bus seat on his night-trips to Jacksboro, Texas, where he taught art classes.

“Winter Night (Derrick in the Snow)” (c. 1959) is unusual among Grammer’s derrick and power-plant paintings, which are often composed of deep blue panes, punctuated with bursts of red, green and gold. Apparently responding to the other-worldly chill of a Texas winter, Grammer has kept this canvas notably monochrome. Even the normally warm hue of yellow has been frosted by a generous blending in of white and grey. Additionally, lights - which in Grammer’s other night scenes come across as soft, oversized fireflies - read as vigorous, slicing orbs.