Desert Brush, 2026 by Ray Patrick — original oil painting — 2026.008.005

Subject

Desert scrub seen close and from above, filling the frame. Pale boulders and brush sit among flat ground, with a line of dark trees across the top and a glimpse of blue beyond.

Composition

No horizon and no sky to speak of — the picture is almost all middle distance, read as a field of incident rather than a view. The dark band of trees at the top is the only thing fixing which way is up.

Palette

Pale blue-green and lavender in the rocks against the mid-green of the ground, with a dark bottle green along the top. The range is narrow and close in value, which is what makes it read as glare.

Handling

Scumbled and broken. Light strokes are dragged over darker ones so the lower colour keeps showing through, and the brush is turned constantly — nothing here is a single flat plane. Thin white flecks are flicked over the whole surface at the end.

Medium and support

Oil on board. The paint sits thinly in places and heavily in others; canvas texture reads through the lighter passages. The board's edges are painted white.

Signature

No signature visible within the painted area.