Saving with iCloud instead of "On my computer...?"

I beefed up my iCloud subscription a few months ago, so now I have a good deal of room for files that may overcrowd my Mac mini, which has much less storage space than my Mac Pro. But I never researched the mechanics of retrieving files saved to the cloud. I presumed that the process would be straightforward. It isn't. As a test, this AM, I handled about ten small Photoshop files and, since I was given the choice of saving to the cloud or on my computer, I deliberately saved them to the cloud. And they have disappeared. I've tried looking through the iCloud desktop, the iCloud desktop for a different computer accessible on my Mini, and I've used the "Find" tool. Nothing shows up. I assume that they are there somewhere, but what is it going to take to dig them out? I did not include any screenshots for obvious reasons.