Desert Contained
The desert landscape is vast and overwhelming. To bring it into a more intimate scale, I planted cacti in pots, treated them like pets, and painted them as portraits.
Living with these plants changed the way I saw them. Their forms became familiar, their quirks recognizable, their presence almost companionable. What began as a study of desert plants became a series of portraits.
In Desert Contained, the grandeur of the Sonoran Desert is gathered into a smaller, more personal world—one built from observation, affection, and attention.
Take a look at a selection of our recent projects, crafted with care and designed to make an impact. Each one tells a story of creativity, collaboration, and results.
Sold
Lounging on the patio garden of the Hacienda del Sol, it shadows stretching, it yawned, "Paint me."
Size: 9"x12"
Painted on location at St. Phillip's Plaza, Tucson, AZ, the blue pot smiles at a reflecting sky.
Size: 14"x11"
Painted on location at B&B Cactus, Tucson AZ, hurry hurry, five blooms for a one-day duration
Size: 20"diameter
In the neutral beige of desert, the red needles glow, inspiring a red pot on round canvas.
Size: 24"w 36"
So timeless the sight and smell of wild lavender, I stole some to grow in a cherished antique
Size: 20" diameter
When a red-thorn barrel cactus gets stressed—too much or not enough water, too much sun or not enough light—its green torso turns a blushing blotchy red. When it achieves balance again, the green returns and only the thorns glow
Cradled in warm desert stones, this nestled cactus child shelters from the desert wild
Size: 16" diameter
For the 70th birthday of a close friend dear,
The cactus longed to go and stay
So together they could grow and age
Size: 11” w. by 14” h.
Oil on canvas.
While painting it live at the Tucson Botanical Gardens, to embellish its spirally action, I planted it into a fiery red pot.
Size: 22”x22”
Oil on round canvas, framed.
When Russian troops entered Ukraine, I was so rattled I did what I always do: I sought something beautiful. On a visit to a nursery, a small cactus in oversize bloom called to me, its color a Ukrainian yellow. Unlike Ukraine, with its own larger canvas, the blossom was short-lived and complicated to paint. Slowly, slowly,” I told myself, Petal by petal, I allowed myself. Long after its blossom on a prickly green stem turned brown, its promise of renewal holds and glows, as does Ukraine.
Size: 12"x9"
Sold
Lounging against a patio wall, it yawned, "Paint me.,