Textures..... shapes...... color.....simplicity
This is the original photo, I took it here in Alamogordo.
The image above was illustrated and manipulated in the computer... (actually partly in my ipad)
If you enlarge the cactus picture, you will be able to work out layers of color.
Take a look at the background. If I decide to make a quilt from this picture, I will layer the background in two parts and build the other colors on top of them.
If you enlarge it and look closer, there are texture lines which you could use as quilting lines.
Batiks would look wonderful or some of McKenna Ryans graduated texture fabric.
I would quilt the background quite densely and then the cactus would stand out...
The prickles, I think they would look great as one long piece of hand stitched thick thread. They would look like a halo around the cactus.
Both of these images are simple and uncluttered..they would both make great quilts.