Growing Cactuses

There are these cactuses that grow in the Arizona desert which are incredibly impressive. Mostly because they can be as tall as a two story building, yet on average they only grow between 1-2" per year. Luckily, I can paint them in slightly less time.


The first step is to literally carve out a space for each using a straight edge razor. I try to put in as many as possible, because in the process one or two will be lost.


Once I have a marked spot for each, I paint the foreground in, once again cutting in each cactus when the foreground seeps over their edges.


Then I let the foreground completely dry over two days, and with a very small brush (but not too small or it does not hold an edge) paint in each individual cactus, trying to be faithful to each different light and highlights. And here is the (almost) finished product!


-jb.