I realized that this one had been painted and framed, but never blogged!
Story of the Painting
Sandy and I have been friends for decades. My late husband introduced us to one another back when our children were still young. We were both homeschooling moms and we became good friends through our love of God and our common experience of homeschooling.
We have been geographically separated for many years, so when I planned my trip to Albuquerque this last June, I knew we had to connect while I was there.
Sandy picked me up from the airport and we had planned to do some sight seeing, but my knee had gone out a few days before, so instead she took me on a driving tour of ABQ.
One stop we made was at her church, which not only has a fantastic view of the city and the mountains, but these cactus were blooming gloriously orange all around it–so of course I hobbled out of the car and snapped some photos.
Once I got home, they were almost the first thing I painted.
I imagined that the cactus dreams… And when it dreams, the dreams bloom into these gorgeous flowers; and that’s how I decided on a title!
Of Interest To Artists
I had a piece of self-prepared matboard in a neutral purple, and I felt that would be perfect to begin. I sketched the shapes in with a blue pastel pencil because there were a lot of blue undertones and overtones in the photo. Then I added some colors to help me find my way.
I put the flowers in first, as they are really the story of this painting.
That blue sky just wasn’t working. In the end, I got rid of it, so you could focus on the cactus.
This was quite a more complicated piece than I anticipated. Getting the prickly pears and buds to look accurate was a challenge. I’m very happy with the result, though.
