Baja Cactus Sunset (Copy)

Driving down Mex 1 deep in the south of Baja, the largely impressive Cardon cactus begin to punctuate the desert terrain until they increasingly create a forest of green monoliths spreading as far as the eye can see. Standing next to these mammoth-sized cactus, one is dwarfed in comparison. There are so many varieties of succulents in Baja, but these Cardons are unmistakeable and make an impression true to their size. Besides their massive size (some growing as tall as 60ft) and incredibly long life (hundreds of years), what I was particularly attracted to was the subtle color change of greens within their ribbing. At first glance their arms appear green, but as you look closer, there is a remarkable blue-green-gray color towards the interior of their ribs, and a yellow-green hue extending towards the outside of the rib. It’s the subtle color differences that excite my eye and influence my paintings of these remarkable cactus.