Desert Joshua Sunset, 2026 by Ray Patrick — original oil painting — 2026.019.015

Subject

Two Joshua trees on a ridge at last light, in silhouette against a sky that has already gone cool at the top.

Composition

The trees are pushed hard to the right edge, one of them cropped by it, leaving the left two thirds as empty sky and dark land. The horizon sits low and the ground rises gently to the right to meet them.

Palette

A graded sky — pale aqua at the top, through cream and apricot, into magenta and violet at the horizon. Below, blue-black land with a few green accents; the trees read almost black with their crowns still faintly green.

Handling

The sky is the quietest passage on the wall: long horizontal strokes, laid side by side and blended at their edges, so the colour genuinely graduates rather than steps. The land is stroked the same way and the trees are put in last over it.

Medium and support

Oil on board. Thin and smooth in the sky, thicker in the foreground. The board's edges are painted white.

Signature

No signature visible within the painted area.