“Doom Rainbow” 20x16 Oil on Panel 2026
“The Cactus Garden” Series 5/9
This series tells the story of Pinkney Dill, a master gardener leading a tidy and serene life, who one day discovers an extraordinary saguaro in his front yard--a saguaro that gives birth to a powerful resurrected extraterrestrial who forces Pinkney’s sedate life and tidy garden into chaos. Pinkney refers to this creature as the Cactus Person.
The Cactus Person was weirdly protective of Pinkney. When an aggressive student loan officer tried to extract a high-interest payment from Pinkney--for a course he had taken thirty-five years prior, let it be known!--the Cactus Person intervened. With an eerie whistling sound, a beam of light shot forth from the creature’s hand and enveloped the loan officer’s head in a frightening doom rainbow…
And Pinkney never again worried about his student loan payments.
PAINTING NOTES: This painting happened pretty quickly. It took a little less than two weeks. I went for a sickly pale green sky color—like the color of a sky before the storm. The woman on the far left is Callie Allberry, a baker of pies, trying to win Pinkney’s affection. But Pinkney like the cacti he cares for, is prickly by nature. By the end of the tale Pinkney, a once solitary curmudgeon, learns to open up to others and reciprocates her warm feelings.
Over the years I have painted many rainbows into my pieces, and predict that I will paint many more over the course of my career. People have often wonder if I do this for political significance.
Perhaps a little—I am definitely an ally. My Dad was gay and I have trans and queer friends. That being said, I view rainbows with the same sense of wonder that I did when I was a child. Rainbows are truly magickal to behold. They are also fabulous…and deadly.