Sentinel of the Pass- Original Art

Sentinel Of The Pass – Acrylic and Modeling Paste on Canvas
36"x24" | Original Painting by Jeanette Johnson
2026
 
This painting, entitled “Sentinel of the Pass,” depicts the Scottsbluff Monument at sunset. It’s been many years since I’ve visited the park, and I hope to return in the next few years. It was one of my favorite summer vacations, taken with my Mom and a handful of my sisters. I was rather young, and forced to sit in the back middle seat for the entirety of the weekend trip (not that I’m complaining), I was the smallest and the youngest. I remember the vastness of the plains, the never-ending sea of prairie grass, and the openness of the sky with nary a tree in sight.
 
Viewing this flat expanse was one of the first times I remember really understanding what the pioneers of the Mormon and Oregon Trails actually faced. To an adolescent mind, it was the most unattainable goal I could conceive: to travel across the country with nothing more than a team of oxen, a covered wagon (if you were lucky) or a handcart (if you were unlucky), and barely enough supplies to survive. Bold and brave.
 
Sentinel is a 24x36-inch original completed in 2026 by landscape artist Jeanette Johnson. This vertical, textured landscape captures a bright sunset across the Great Plains of Western Nebraska at Scottsbluff National Monument.