Cholla Cactus

I'd never really spent any time in the desert until March.  I do really like having trees above my head.  But there is something about the starkness of the desert - what life exists really thrives!  It's beautiful and stunning and unique, and each living thing is show-cased.  In Joshua Tree the plant life is particularly crazy.  There is an entire garden of these cholla cacti, but this one in particular, all on its own outside of the cholla garden, was the first one to impress me.  And it was a lot of fun to paint!

As you can see, I took some liberty with the color as usual.  If you look closely, though, you will see the purples and yellows even in the original photo.  Playing with, and pushing, those lights and darks using color theory is how I'm working with oils these days.  I just ordered fabric for a scarf, and can't wait to see how it turns out!