PRICKLY PEAR

Looking for a place to paint, I ask in the grocery where the nearest park is. “Park?” Is the response. I guess people don’t spend much time outdoors in the summer, here. I head for the house where we are staying and alter my schedule.
After the strongest heat of the day, I stand just outside the garage in the shade to paint a prickly pear that is just poking up above the wall. Trying to narrow in on one small part, I examine the variety of greens and challenge myself to render the form. It’s as hard to paint a green object as it is to paint white. I paint the cactus against a white wall, with a dark doorway behind it. Rick says that it looks like it is upside-down.