High Desert Cacti 2, 2026 by Ray Patrick — original oil painting — 2026.040.033

Subject

Pale boulders scattered across a desert floor, two tall cacti standing among them, and a range of blue hills behind a band of gold grass.

Composition

The boulders fill the lower half as a field of rounded forms, and the two cacti are the only verticals — placed at uneven intervals so they do not pair off. The gold band behind them runs dead level and separates near from far.

Palette

Mint and pale sage in the rocks, a strong ochre-gold band, violet-blue hills, and a sky graded from pale yellow-green at the horizon to turquoise above. The cacti are the only saturated green.

Handling

Each boulder is two or three curved loaded strokes with a darker one beneath for its shadow, and nothing is tidied afterwards. The cacti are single straight pulls from top to bottom.

Medium and support

Oil on board. Heavier in the foreground rocks than in the sky. The board's edges are painted white.

Signature

No signature visible within the painted area.