Prickly as a Cactus

Something about succulents just really pleases the aesthetic eye. I took a succulent planting workshop over the summer at Pier 13 in Hoboken. Sounds lame, yes, but it was at an outdoor bar on the water...how could I not?? It actually ended up being fun and I had a newfound appreciation for all things succulent.

Hence, the inspiration to paint a cactus. I will be doing a legitimate cactus scene soon but I thought this design would be fun to experiment with some crazy colors and ink-bleed detail.

I began by sketching a quick outline and going over it with my Sakura Pigma Micron Ink Pen (.45mm) as shown in the timelapse video above. I then chose my focal watercolors. I knew I wanted some green/blue in there to keep to the original succulent color but I also wanted pops of others. I chose pink, orange, and yellows. 

I really loved the vibrant colors in this painting! You can find prints of this painting in my Etsy shop by clicking here or by following the Etsy tab on my home page and searching "Prickly as a Cactus"!