I had the idea for this one while my friend Donovan and I were on a walk through our neighborhood at night. The entire time I had been fascinated by the way light pollution functions, and it was becoming clear that I was seeing something in it I could learn from. I looked up at a tree that was positioned behind a street light and moved around a little to see how the position made the visibility change so drastically with a small angle difference. I took a picture of the scene and used it as inspiration for this drawing. I felt an intense need to replicate the feeling. In the picture I could only see small parts of the tree through the light, so I traced the trunk and starting points of some lower branch splits and then improvised the rest of the tree, taking great care to layer the branches realistically. Something about putting such extensive detail into something that would be ultimately unseen and covered by a light spoke to what I got from the idea. The way the shadows kind of warp on the background and onto other branches also speaks to the confusing illusionary nature of it. For me at the time it was a representation of what it means to be blinded by love, but there are many things it can apply to. The idea is that when you place such light into something in your own mind, it often makes it difficult to see the intricacies that created such a thing. No matter how hard you try to look at the terrain in front of you, having a light in the way can be more blinding than trying to see it in the dark. Ironic isn’t it?
