Manhattan has always fascinated me, but Manhattan Afterglow has an especially personal story. This New York City skyline artwork brings together my years in New Jersey, 20 consecutive years attending the US Open, my lifelong love of tennis, and the vivid color that defines my art today.

The Super Panorama came first, inspired in part by the extra-wide presentation I had previously explored with my panorama Enchantment. I loved the commanding presence that format created on a long wall, and Manhattan seemed made for that same sweeping approach.

From there, Manhattan Afterglow began to take on a life of its own.

My US Open Connection

Tennis has been part of my life for decades. I still play three days a week, and when the US Open comes around, I rarely miss watching it.

But my connection to the Open began long before I watched it from Arizona.

Growing up and living in New Jersey, I attended the US Open for 20 years in a row. It became an annual tradition—two weeks when some of the greatest tennis players in the world came to Flushing Meadows and New York became the center of the tennis universe.

One memory has stayed with me in particular. I remember sitting in Louis Armstrong Stadium and watching Arthur Ashe Stadium being built nearby.

All these years later, I still watch the tournament. Somewhere along the way, I began paying almost as much attention to what was happening outside the stadium as to what was happening on the court.

The Manhattan skyline.

Those panoramic television views looking from Flushing Meadows toward Manhattan kept catching my eye.

Eventually, I began wondering what I could do with that view.

From a Familiar Skyline to Manhattan Afterglow

I wasn’t interested in reproducing a photograph of New York.

I wanted to take that familiar Manhattan silhouette somewhere else.

Manhattan Afterglow was created digitally as a New York City skyline artwork, letting me experiment freely with composition, atmosphere, and color while drawing on the visual language I’ve developed through decades of traditional painting.

The Super Panorama came first. Its extra-wide format gave Manhattan a dramatic sweep across the horizon, while my patterned sky brought color, movement, and atmosphere to the city above.

Then I took the idea in another direction and expanded the sky. Deep blues surround sweeping passages of red, orange, magenta, yellow, green, and white. Those colors move into Manhattan itself and reflect across the water below, creating a second composition in which the sky plays a much larger role.

The two versions offer different ways of experiencing Manhattan Afterglow—one emphasizes the extraordinary sweep of the skyline, while the other gives more room to the patterned sky and its movement.

The result isn’t intended to show exactly what Manhattan looks like.

It’s about what Manhattan feels like to me.

The Heart of It All

This New York City skyline artwork has a personal history that may not be obvious at first glance.

New Jersey belongs to an earlier chapter of my life. Arizona and the Southwest belong to another. Tennis has somehow traveled with me through both.

I attended the US Open year after year when I lived back East. Today, thousands of miles away, I’m still playing tennis three days a week and still watching the Open.

And now the colors I’ve developed as a Southwest artist have found their way back across the country to Manhattan.

In that sense, Manhattan Afterglow brings two parts of my life together—New Jersey and Arizona, tennis and art, memory and imagination.

Collector’s Note

Manhattan Afterglow is a digitally created New York City skyline artwork by Clark Sheppard. There is no painted original.

I developed the artwork using digital tools, while keeping the vivid color language and artistic sensibility that have defined my traditional work.

The Super Panorama is the featured composition, designed especially for collectors who want an expansive statement piece for a long wall.

Available Formats & Editions

Manhattan Afterglow — Super Panorama

The Super Panorama turns this New York City skyline artwork into a dramatic, extra-wide presentation, bringing Manhattan forward while retaining my vivid patterned sky and colorful reflections.

I first explored this extra-wide format with Enchantment and loved how it could transform a long wall. Manhattan Afterglow seemed like a natural piece to continue that idea.

Available as a Super Panorama Canvas Giclée in:

15 × 50 • 18 × 60 • 22 × 72 inches

Manhattan Afterglow — Expansive Sky Panorama

After creating the Super Panorama, I wanted to explore the idea in another direction—giving more room to the patterned sky that has become such a recognizable part of my work.

The Expansive Sky Panorama takes the same New York City skyline artwork in another direction, opening the composition vertically and giving the patterned sky a larger role.

This composition is available as a Canvas Giclée, Luminous Metal Print, and Framed Canvas Print.

Manhattan Afterglow has no original painting or hand-embellished edition.

Continue the Journey

Enchantment

Enchantment was where I first explored this dramatic Super Panorama format. Its sweeping composition inspired me to bring the same extra-wide presentation to Manhattan Afterglow.

Vegas: A Luminous Awakening

Another exploration of an iconic American city transformed through vivid color, light, and imagination.

Fleetwood’s On Front St.

A very different city-inspired work connecting architecture, place, memory, and the experiences that give a location its character.

A Personal Reflection

Creating this New York City skyline artwork brought together memories from two very different chapters of my life.

When I sat in Louis Armstrong Stadium watching Arthur Ashe Stadium rise nearby, I certainly wasn’t thinking that someday I’d be living in Arizona creating artwork inspired by those Manhattan views.

I was there to watch tennis.

Today I still play the game. I still watch the Open. And I still get a little nostalgic when the television cameras turn away from the court and show New York in the distance.

Manhattan Afterglow grew out of one of those moments.

Maybe that’s why this piece feels less like a picture of a city to me and more like a collection of memories illuminated by color.

About the Artist

Clark Sheppard is a self-taught American artist and U.S. Army veteran known for vivid color, luminous landscapes, and imaginative interpretations of place.

After moving to Sedona in 2004, the Southwest’s extraordinary light and color became a defining influence on his work. Rather than simply recreating what a place looks like, Sheppard seeks to capture what it feels like—using heightened color, atmosphere, and imagination to transform familiar landscapes and destinations.

After 16 years in Sedona, he moved to nearby Cornville, Arizona, where he continues creating artwork inspired by the Southwest and places and experiences from throughout his life.

My work is also featured at the Village Gallery in Sedona—a Sedona art gallery devoted exclusively to handmade artwork by local artists, and widely regarded as the true heart of Sedona’s local art scene. You can also find my work at Creative Gateways, a contemporary Sedona gallery that offers a welcoming mix of fine art and jewelry across a range of price points, as well as at Desert Valley Gallery in Las Vegas at Tivoli Village, where creativity, beauty, and craftsmanship come together in a unique and inspiring setting.