Lockwood "Woody" Dennis (1937-2012) was born in Portland, Oregon, but lived in Port Townsend, Washington, for 37 years. He was inclined to paint both natural and industrial scenes from the Northwest, California, Colorado, Africa, and Japan, and often included images of vehicles from the 1930s and 1940s as their shapely design had inspired him as a child. In this work, featuring the Public Safety Building once located at 400 Yesler Way in downtown Seattle, one can see Lockwood's influences which were primarily Matisse and Cezanne, as well as German expressionist printmakers, French and Japanese cinema, and others.