The road to the Basin in Big Bend National Park, winds its way up a valley known as Green Gulch. The journey to get there, is through many, many miles along the desert floor. So when you arrive at Green Gulch it is no surprise as to how it achieved its name. As the road rises into the mountains the vegetation changes from cactus and scrub brush to pine trees mixed with stool and agave. A very lush foreground against jagged mountain peaks all around.
This painting is of a Cholla cactus in bloom against a backdrop of clouds drifting through the peaks surrounding Green Gulch. The morning sun was burning off the low lying clouds that had settled in overnight.