ARTmonday: 12 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.