Desert Urchin

In the background, distant buttes are curtained in a hot haze. We can’t see it, but the coyote’s eyes are locked on a large jackrabbit she's spotted just outside of the frame. Her bushy tail is streaked with different colors as layers of fur intersperse with the sun's golden glow. Much like the coyote, the succulents seem to be covered in downy hairs highlighted by the special radiance.  This was an unusual palette for me—there’s hardly any blue. Most of my paintings are dominated by blue, but I didn’t want to cool this one down. Whenever I glance at it, the honey-colored silhouettes make the room warm up just a little bit.  About halfway through this painting, I was struck by how the succulents resembled sea anemones, how urchin-like the prickly pears and cacti were. As I stepped away from the scene, I could imagine so clearly how the landscape had once been an ocean floor. I briefly felt the underwater desert. Through that lens, the hunting pose of the coyote makes