Hummingbird With a Rainbow, Pamela Martinez Oquendo, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 17 x 21 in. / 43.18 x 53.34 cm.

Vivid Realities: The Wildlife and Wonder of Pamela Martinez Oquendo

Featured image: Hummingbird With a Rainbow, Pamela Martinez Oquendo, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 17 x 21 in. / 43.18 x 53.34 cm.

Pamela Martinez Oquendo’s paintings harness acrylic's versatility to capture the vitality of the natural world with exuberance and emotional depth. 

Pamela Martinez Oquendo paints vibrant, emotional portraits of nature that blend realism, warmth, and visual storytelling with bold, expressive color.

Each canvas becomes a world in itself, whether it’s a snapshot of intimate animal bonds, a sky aflame with color, or the close-up mysteries of a predator’s gaze. Across these three paintings, Oquendo renders nature with a sense of wonder and reverence that transcends the canvas, inviting viewers to witness the world through a deeply human lens of curiosity and care.

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Mama Crocodile and Baby, Pamela Martinez Oquendo, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 in. / 60.96 x 60.96 cm.

Mama Crocodile and Baby, Pamela Martinez Oquendo, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 24 x 24 in. / 60.96 x 60.96 cm.

In Mama Crocodile and Baby, Oquendo conjures a tender moment between reptilian figures often miscast as cold or ferocious. Set against a radiant sunset swamp, the large crocodile gazes outward while a baby rests on her head, relaxed and unafraid. The exaggerated scale and rounded forms soften the creatures, framing them as protective and endearing. The water's reflection and color palette, purples, reds, golds, suggest warmth and legacy, echoing the instinctual bond between parent and child in even the most unexpected species.

Colorful Clouds, Pamela Martinez Oquendo, 2024, acrylic on canvas, 17 x 21 in. / 43.18 x 53.34 cm.

Colorful Clouds, Pamela Martinez Oquendo, 2024, acrylic on canvas, 17 x 21 in. / 43.18 x 53.34 cm.

Colorful Clouds is a jubilant exploration of atmosphere through abstraction. With dense, stippled brushstrokes, Oquendo layers vibrant reds beneath deepening blues to build a sky that feels electric, celebratory, and almost musical. The work’s lack of horizon line detaches the viewer from any terrestrial anchor, inviting full immersion into a sky that is more emotional than meteorological. It’s a portrait of awe, a sky seen not with the eyes, but with the soul.

Eye of the Tiger, Pamela Martinez Oquendo, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 in. / 40.64 x 50.8 cm.

Eye of the Tiger, Pamela Martinez Oquendo, 2023, acrylic on canvas, 16 x 20 in. / 40.64 x 50.8 cm.

In Eye of the Tiger, the viewer is pulled into an uncomfortably intimate proximity with one of nature’s most formidable beings. The tiger’s eye, hyper-real and gleaming, dominates the frame. Its textured iris and visible fur lines radiate power, intelligence, and ancient watchfulness. What makes this portrait so striking is not just its technical precision, but the choice to focus solely on the eye, making the viewer both subject and object, seen as much as seeing.

Together, these three paintings illustrate Pamela Martinez Oquendo’s exceptional ability to animate her subjects with heart, color, and tension. From the gentle familiarity of maternal instinct to the grandeur of the sky and the raw immediacy of a predator’s gaze, her work is an invitation to meet nature not as other, but as kin.

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Fuzzy Spider, Pamela Martinez Oquendo, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 6 x 6 in. / 15.24 x 15.24 cm.

Fuzzy Spider, Pamela Martinez Oquendo, 2025, acrylic on canvas, 6 x 6 in. / 15.24 x 15.24 cm.

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