Southwestern Desert Mountain Landscape

This is an original oil painting on canvas depicting a luminous Southwestern desert scene, most likely the Sonoran Desert. The composition features a prominent saguaro cactus in the mid-ground, set against a backdrop of rugged, sunlit mountains rendered in a soft palette of ochre, lavender, and gold. The foreground displays an arid path winding through scrub brush and desert flora. The application of paint is thick and textural, exhibiting an impasto technique that adds physical depth to the mountain ridges and sky. The color palette suggests sunrise or sunset, utilizing atmospheric perspective with hazy purples in the distance transitioning to warm yellows and oranges in the light. The work is housed in a mid-to-late 20th-century wooden frame with a stepped profile and a cream-colored linen liner. The construction suggests a creation date between the 1960s and 1980s, a period popular for this style of American regionalism. The visible condition of the canvas appears good with no obvious tears or heavy craquelure, although there is minor surface dust and the linen liner shows slight discoloration consistent with age. No artist signature is clearly visible in the lower corners of the front, though one may be present under the frame edge or on the reverse. The craftsmanship reflects an accomplished hand familiar with plein air or impressionistic landscape techniques.