In 2020 I enrolled at Sadie Valeri Atelier (SVA), an online school offering training in drawing, and painting based on studio practices that were primarily taught from the Renaissance to the 19th century. By early 2021, I had finished the graphite curriculum and missed doing botanical work, so I took a small break from the program to apply my newly acquired graphite skills to a botanical drawing. I was mentored by Elaine Searle, who after seeing the casts and classical sculpture copies I had drawn suggested I look at the work of Karl Blossfeldt. The zoomed in and sculptural qualities of Blossfeldt photographs inspired me to look for a subject that would present similar characteristics as the casts I had just drawn. I drove to the UC Berkeley Botanical Gardens and as I was visiting the Chilean section of the garden, I fell in love with a cactus. Echinopsis Chiloensis is a common cactus in my native neighborhood in Santiago. However, I had never stopped to really look at it. It was a cloudy day and the soft light was gently rolling over its undulations and I couldn’t help but see torsos and legs. It was perfect. I zoomed in and photographed it. At home, I settled on a size that allowed me to show the plant’s voluptuousness interrupted by the harshness of the spines. It was meaningful to draw a plant native to my neighborhood at a time when I am reconnecting with my home country. The name of the drawing, Danger, was first suggested by Elaine, half jokingly I think. However, I thought it was a great name, descriptive not only of the subject, but of the times in which it was created. I hope to draw more Chilean plants in the next few years.