Desert slope with prickly pear and cholla
A desert slope seen close and from slightly above, prickly pear and cholla in the near ground with saguaros standing in a blue haze behind.
No horizon and almost no sky — a shallow band of blue at the top and then nothing but field. The saguaros behind are small and pale and the near cactus is large and saturated, which is what carries the depth.
Chartreuse, emerald and sap green through the near cactus against plum and violet in the shadows. Small notes of coral and orange mark the fruit; the distant stand is a flat dusty blue.
Built from separate rounded touches of wet colour laid side by side and allowed to run into one another, with the darks dropped into damp paint so they bleed. Nothing is drawn; the forms are made entirely by the shapes of the strokes.
Watercolour on paper. Transparent throughout, with unpainted margins on all four sides.
Lower right, RAYRAYISHAPPY, in dark brown over the foreground, letters widely spaced.