FTB

This cactus cartoon basically started out with me just blobbing cactus colours onto a wet canvas and letting them dry.

It was a pastel blobby mess and that was ok because that was the plan.

Here’s my inspiration:

You can see what I was going for 🤣

If I didn’t just dive in than I would not have done it all.

The process

So once the paint dried I outlined my simplified cactus and blooms.

Walked away.

Came back and did some shading on the cactus for depth.

Walked away.

Came back and added the shadows.

Quite literally this could remain a work in progress but ima stop here.

Let’s get deepish

Don’t we all start out like this? All soft and blobby no real barriers or expectations.

Life happens…

As life experiences accumulate, so do the barriers we put up and all of a sudden the lines our drawn.

Pain happens…

Pain and disappointment put us on guard so we develop a way to protect our hearts, like little spikes.

Unfortunately when those spikes go up you end up keeping everything out.

Or do you.

Ever seen the bird sitting on a cactus.

Than it happens…

Pay attention to the people who show up even though you’re loaded with a spike security system.

Let them in. Appreciate them. That’s your tribe. Put your energy into them.

They see your worth even if you don’t.

When I look at a cactus I think of it kind of like a spiky cucumber. A painful pickle if you will.

It amazes me how these spiky cucumbers have persevered over hundreds of years of hurricanes and storms. There’s a lesson there, make of it what you will.

One of the oldest Cacti lives here in Baja (somewhere). She’s 300 years old and over 60 feet tall💚

⬆️ welcome to my brain. Hope you already had a coffee ☕️ 😜