Resolute Joshua Tree – Behind the Scenes

With my final painting in my California Regions series, the obvious remaining location was the desert.  As I began designing the new painting, I thought a lot about what plant I should use as the main focus of the image.  At first, I considered using the Cardon Cactus, Organ Pike Cactus, the Saguaro, which is a tree-like cactus species or the Fan Palm.  Ultimately, I wanted to continue the series by really focusing on trees of the specific region.  This lead me to the best and most obvious choice, the Joshua Tree, as I began designing this very arid terrain.  In contrast to the open terrain, I felt the best option to display drama was to use a sky with a spectacular sunset as a way to really amp up the visual intensity and punch I was looking for.