Wild Euphorbia Painting

I'm often inspired by the huge variety of flowering cactus and succulents that grown here in Santa Barbara. Often they look like alien creatures from another planet. Euphorbia are among my favorites. In this case I've chosen to portray them in a surreal landscape which is in transition from either sunset or early dawn. The transitional nature of any given moment is important to my work. In this case the beauty of the plant is offset by the danger of the spines. I always begin my paintings with a sketch which I then paint over with a red undercoat. I build the image with thin layers of oil which sometimes allow the underpainting to show through. This adds subtle complexity to the final color.