Cacti Night, 2026 by Ray Patrick — original oil painting — 2026.044.071

Subject

Saguaro standing in a desert at night, nine of them at varying heights, lit from somewhere low so their faces glow against a dark sky and a black range.

Composition

The cacti are spaced across the full width at uneven intervals and heights, nearest at the left and smallest at the right, which does all the work of depth. The ground is a shallow band and the sky takes the rest.

Palette

A striking inversion — the cacti are the lightest thing in the picture, acid yellow-green, against a sky of deep ultramarine and a range of near-black. A seam of hot orange runs along the ground behind them.

Handling

Each cactus is a single upward pull of loaded light paint with its arms added in one stroke apiece — nothing is drawn or corrected. The sky is scrubbed in broad passes behind them and the ground dabbed in short flat marks.

Medium and support

Oil on board. Moderately thick, with the weave reading through the sky and raised paint in the cacti. The board's edges are painted white.

Signature

No signature visible within the painted area.