Sunday Prickly Pears

12x9 watercolor using a limited palette of Payne's Gray, Perylene Maroon, and Quinacridone Gold on Canson 120 lb for mixed media paper. With this palette, I'm still exploring color combinations on the imaginary landscape cactus. This one was done in July. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Hot July Prickly Pears

10x14 watercolor on Stonehenge aqua 140 lb hot press paper done last week using a limited palette. This was a class exercise learning to mix three primary color versions of Payne's gray, Perylene maroon, and quinacridone gold. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Cactus Tidbits

6x6 watercolor of imaginary prickly pear cactus patch, just a playful exercise of color and line. In this desert landscape flora or plant scene, one can think of finding a cactus with all these tidbits. This was painted last week or so. COPYRIGHT 2025 Kay Smith

Colored Cactus Pears

8.5x5.5 watercolor done in mixed media sketchbook last week, another imaginary cactus theme focusing on its edible pear fruit. This was painted quickly and loosely. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

Rough Cactus Patch

8x6 watercolor on rough handmade paper done week before last using graphite paints by Gansai Tambi (Kuretake) and Rosa Gallery paints. In this imaginary southwestern desert landscape focusing on cactus plants, I've used the graphites for the rough texture and Rosa paints for their brilliant colors of the prickly pears. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025

May Prickly Pears

6x8 watercolor using White Nights paints done last week, an imaginary cactus of prickly pears on handmade rough paper 140 lb cold press. I put in darks first followed by midtones then lights. COPYRIGHT Kay Smith 2025