ARTmonday: Cactus Paintings

Before we get to the cactus paintings, I want to tell you a little cactus story.

Last summer I was surprised to find cacti growing in the sand along the parking spaces at a small beach in Truro on the Cape. It looked as though  someone planted them on a retaining wall, and they spread to the ground, or rather, the beach. I can’t believe I never noticed them before. Could they all have grown over a single year?

They were quite rugged; pale green with short but very coarse and sharp spines. I had to have one. It was a lot more difficult to pull it up than I thought, and I was treated to lots of little prickly stuff in my fingers. (Because I’m not careful like that.) I brought a little one home, stuck it in a small pot with some sandy dirt, and left it on the porch.

A few months ago my husband was out there and brought it home, thinking winter would surely not serve this cactus well. (I will be curious to see how all the cacti in the parking lot look this summer.) We put it in a sunny spot on the back windowsill, and while the original plant didn’t look very healthy, it sprouted.

The new growth is green and very tall; three times the size of the original plant. I replanted it in store-bought cactus/succulent soil in a larger pot. If the cleaning people would stop watering it, I suspect it will grow to be very strong. (It’s currently kind of droopy, with a chopstick holding it up.) I’m kind of amazed. Nature.

Cape Cod Cactus In StyleCarrot's Living Room

Cape cactus.

Here are cactus paintings, mostly still lifes.

Abstract Cactus Landscape Painting

King Harvest Has Surely Come, Gareth Kemp

Cactus Terrarium Illustration

Crystal Cactus, Cactus Club 

Geometric Cactus Illustration Print On Etsy

Geometric Cactus, Exile Printed

Cactus In Pink Pot Still Life Painting Affordable Artwork

Cactus, Grace

Illustration Of Assorted Cactus Plants In Pots

Curious Cacti, Sarah Walsh 

Illustration of Cactus In Striped Geometric Pot

Cactus, Elisabeth Fredriksson

Oversize Cactus Painting

Cactus, Tadija Janicic 

Affordable Artwork Of Retro Cactus Still LIfe

Retro Cactus, Cool Hang

Author: StyleCarrot

Marni Elyse Katz is a design writer and editor who lives in Boston and Cape Cod with her husband, two sons, and a cat. She blogs about design at www.stylecarrot.com

Let's talk style.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.