Prickly Pears And Desert Flora
"The Sun Worshippers”
Oil on stretched canvas, 16”x 20” (2025)
There's something special about the prickly pear and it’s many colorful and oddly-shaped varieties. This particular desert flora can stand the harshest sun-drenched temperatures of the southwest and still flourish and bloom.
"The Crawling Pears”
Oil on stretched canvas, 11”x 16” (2025)
In this oil painting, I really wanted to let any semblance to realism take a back seat to expression. Using more vibrant, earthy reds and scratching up the canvas with a palette knife was as thrilling as it was cathartic. I really feel I let myself express my inner mood in this piece more than any I’ve painted.
"Two Sentinels”
Oil on stretched canvas, 18”x 24” (2025)
I’m not sure where this path leads to, but wherever it goes, the adventurer can have peace of mind knowing that these two towering desert guardians provide safe-keeping along the way. I really love how the shadows on the prickly pear in the foreground contrasts with the golden sun highlights.
"Sin Nombre”
Oil on stretched canvas, 11”x 14” (2024)
This scene was my very first oil painting where it truly dawned on me: I get a genuine exhilarating feeling from painting prickly pears, cacti, and succulents. This was a particularly expressive piece as well, and I adore the textured brushstrokes and subdued blues and greens.
"Conjoined”
Oil on stretched canvas, 18”x 24” (2025)
This highly-detailed, textured feast-for-the-eyes prickly pear duo was indeed a labor of love, and one of my favorite oil paintings I’ve made to date. This piece is also significant in my oeuvre as a departure from using my darker color palette. I’ve painted this same subject from a photo I took near my house at many intervals, and every time I tackle it’s menacing, stinging paddles, I feel like I get a new chance to grow as an artist.
"Wasteland Rose”
Oil on stretched canvas, 20”x 24” (2024)
This slightly surreal purple/pink prickly pear painting was part of an unofficial series where my spiny subjects stood stoically in a seemingly barren landscape, almost apocalyptic. I didn’t love this painting after completion, but now, after a year and some change gone by, it’s one of my favorites. “Wasteland Rose” is also one of my few vertical oil paintings.
"Derelict”
Oil on stretched canvas, 24”x 30” (2024)
Representing one of my largest oil paintings is the enigmatic “Derelict.” On reservation land, not too far from my neighborhood, are some vast areas of acreage and abandoned houses, overrun with a number of desert dwellers, rouge chaparral, and fields of dry grasses. I loved the idea of nature taking back the land, and found this subject matter fascinating.
"The Pears”
Oil on stretched canvas, 12”x 12” (2025)
This smaller oil painting is one of three in my “Square Pear” series, where I wanted to paint a few prickly pear pieces in rapid succession. This one happens to be my personal favorite of the three, and it was also the fastest to paint. “The Pears” is one of my first paintings using my coveted tousled old brush. You can see the whole series here.