Amber Palms, 2026 by Ray Patrick — original oil painting — 2026.109.049

Subject

A stand of palms in silhouette across a wide horizontal field, two dozen of them at varying heights, with nothing else — no ground, no horizon, no architecture.

Composition

The crowns are set at deliberately uneven heights so the eye travels along a ragged upper line; the trunks drop straight from each one to the bottom edge. One tall palm left of centre breaks well above the rest and holds the composition.

Palette

A graded ground running from turquoise at the top through cream to cadmium yellow and amber at the base. The palms are a flat near-black with a few touches of green in the crowns.

Handling

The ground is scrubbed and layered, worked thin so the texture of the support shows everywhere, with the colour shifting gradually rather than in strokes. The palms are stencil-flat by comparison, cut in as solid shapes with drawn fronds.

Medium and support

Oil. The support is flexible and unstretched — slack creases run through the surface in several directions. The paint is thin, and the weave and folds read through it.

Signature

Along the bottom edge, raypatrick, in widely spaced letters, close in value to the ground they sit on.

From the artist:

I first saw a group of palms lining the beach when I went to surf. I remember thinking that it would be particularly striking at sunset. The sun began to set as I paddled in. I looked back over my shoulder and stood in awe. The sunset was delicate and beautiful as the sun slid behind the horizon.