As a photographer, cloudy days make my heart sing.

They make a day mercurial, changing the mood of a scene depending upon the dance the sun is doing with them at any given moment, creating beautiful half-light that shifts perspective in a matter of seconds.

This scene started off a road trip yesterday between Omaha, Nebraska and Kansas City, Missouri.

I was pretty sure something wonderful was going to be at the other end of the road, I just wasn’t sure what it was going to be.

So I started googling Kansas City….

….and found this: Shuttlecocks by Claus Oldenburg in the Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

Followed by TheFour Seasons by Philip Haas, inspired by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, who was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of objects such as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books.

I was pretty sure I was never going to even make it inside the doors of the museum.

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I did eventually go inside and if I had an entire week, I would still be discovering the treasures contained within.

What a gift this day was.  Beautiful light, amazing art, the magnanimous foresight of art collectors, and a city that supports the arts with a museum that boosts free admission so the public can enjoy and benefit from the works of masters and artists who enable us to see our world differently.

Thank you Kansas City!