Saguaro Gallery
—the Same Subject Shown Several Ways!
Did you know that the Saguaro flower is the Official State Flower of Arizona, and that the Palo Verde is the Official State Tree of Arizona? When I painted a Saguaro flower for my Perpetual Journal recently, I was thinking about the diverse methods I’ve used to create art of Saguaros—so I thought it would be fun to dig into the Paula Archives and share some of my Saguaro art, present and past!
Watercolor
Once again, I had a funny coincidence occur with one of my Perpetual Journal pages: I ended up creating art of the Official State Flower of Arizona (2024 art) and the Official State Tree of Arizona (2023 art) on the same PJ page!
Going back in history, dipping into the Paula Archives, here’s more of my Saguaro art.
More Watercolor
I painted this beautiful multi-armed Saguaro one of the times I got together with my art peeps for sketching at Tohono Chul in 2019. I wanted to keep this art simple and not show zillions of spines, instead emphasizing the lovely curving shapes of the Saguaro arms and trunk.
Colored Pencil
In 2016 I created this colored pencil art of a Saguaro. As I mentioned last week in my Purple Mat Gallery post, I like the speckly look of colored pencil. For this piece I didn’t show any spines at all—and yet you know it’s a Saguaro by its iconic shape.
Glass
In 2013 I took a glass fusing workshop at the Museum of Glass in Tacoma, WA, and created a Saguaro pendant. It’s composed of glass beads, shards, stringers, thin (1/32”-1/8”) glass rods, and frit (tiny colored glass particles, similar to sand). The red Saguaro fruit near the top is a glass bead; the soil is made up of brown frits; and I stacked all my little glass pieces on top of a mottled blue/green/white piece of glass for the background. This class was really fun!
Linoleum Block Prints
In 2007 I took a printmaking class here in Tucson, carving a Saguaro on a linoleum block and then experimenting with printing it on different types and colors of paper. Here are 3 versions of my Saguaro, printed on tan rice paper, green rice paper, and white sumi-e paper.
One of my grandmothers was an incredibly talented linoleum block artist so I’ve always loved the look of this medium! But then I also love watercolor, and pen, and colored pencil, and and and… 😍
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How fun to see all of these approaches!
What a good chapter your saguaro gallery (and Palo Verde) is in the chronicle of visual stories you’re telling. It’s interesting to see these icons of the Southwest in your differing mediums. I love all of them.