This is a Mexican Fencepost cactus. Also called an Organ Pipe or Organo. I like that one. It is shaped like a star from the top. The spines are along the edges, they are short and give the appearance of “hand-stitching”. Dressed and ready for the ball! Work in progress. Nothing is working here. Oops, hehe.
Here’s a winner though. Saved by the sunset!
We got snow! Overnight, so I didn’t get to see it falling. I woke up at 6 am, looked outside. It was a winter wonderland. So nice!
I had to go out at about 11 am. The roads were clear thank goodness. On the way, I took photos of all the snow-covered trees. There was no one on the road in our subdivision. My creative for yesterday could technically be all the photo editing I did. It took most of the afternoon and evening. But you know me. I want my collage to have 30 pieces. So I will catch up.
While in Phoenix this weekend, I saw a couple of cacti fences. I love them. I just think they are practical, as well as pretty. Sculpture. Sometimes they are in planters next to a building. Sometimes they act as an actual fence.
This painting was inspired by what I saw. I had fun with this. Building the layers. It looked sort of flat, and I realized I needed to add shadows. But I think I may have botched that. I used a Pitt pen with a brush tip. Thought it was a grey, but OOPS! It was black. I was able to soften it a bit with a damp brush.
So that was Tuesday morning. By 2 pm most of the fields were gold again. The roads were dry and the sky was clear. Perfect.
I tried to capture the snow falling from the tree in our front yard. No such luck. The large pine (Oh, Christmas tree) has a blur in the center, that was falling snow. If you should feel inspired to paint one of these snowy trees, feel free. 🙂
It’s time for Art ON 45! Well, time for the submissions to be turned in. I pulled an all-nighter getting my piece ready to mail. Then I re-read the instructions and realized that submissions were being taken as digital images. Haha! Image and entry form sent. Alls well. It is a juried event. I’ll find out mid-month if the piece is accepted.
I started with several layers of a warm white front and back. I drew the shapes and filled them in with two shades of green. Next, I dipped a #2 pencil eraser in shades of blue and got spotty with it.
Layers of greens, blues. Painted and splattered. Then a cloak of darkness, and purply prickly pear adornment. I had a moment of trepidation before I started on the spines. The “What if I ruin it?!” Luck was on my side, I found the perfect small, skinny brush. Whew!
Mingus received a nice coat of snow on December 28th. Sadly, the valley stayed dry.
Two weeks later, and there is still snow on the mountain.
Mingus was hidden by clouds all afternoon.
Surprise!
Right around 9 pm giant, fluffy flakes started falling here as well.
Hooray!
Dictionary
hoo·ray/həˈrā/exclamation: hooray
Hooray, everyone! 👋