All the Plants

April 2026

It was an early August morning. There was a slight wind, not a cloud in sight, and a very bright day on the trail. I was in Cibola National Forest scouting trails and creating samples for an upcoming workshop. The drawing prompts are planned for others to engage in during the workshop. I compete them myself to have a sample and to time the length of the activity. This prompt was a 5-minute sketch. It was pleasing to sit on the ground with the sun on my shoulders. I sat a little longer to add color to the pen drawing with my travel watercolors.

Fast forward to March 2026. As I prepared for the show “Wanderings” I was flipping through my sketchbooks and came across the sketch dated 8/2/25. I really wanted to include this yellow flowering plant somehow. I kept the sketch close by as I worked on other paintings and built up layers of colors.

Then it happened. After building up the swaths of yellows, oranges and greens I saw where the plant could be incorporated. I knew I was being playful (or reckless) with scale, grounds, and abstract vs. representational. Thoughts ping-ponged. Would anyone else get it? Was this a stretch? Does it make sense? Would anyone catch the references so obvious in my head? With all the questions and self-inflicted speculation I went with it anyways. The painting evolved and was completed.

This painting is called All the Plants in the Landscape, 2026. It is acrylic on canvas and 24 × 18 inches. The title refers to a single plant PLUS all the others in the landscape. I chose one plant to sketch that day in August, but the entire experience and view included many more plants, grasses, and trees. By contrasting a distant view with a single plant the difference in perspectives is slightly disorienting. The viewer can choose to focus on the plant, the silhouette of the mountains, the distant colors, or all three at the same time. Just as my thoughts ping-ponged, so could one’s eye.

My sketchbooks are where I capture thoughts, visuals, and experiment. Ideas evolve and have the potential to become bigger works and concepts. Times like this I am delighted to see how a drawing in a sketchbook + visceral feelings from that particular sketching day turned into a larger painting with complex perspectives.