Backlight

10/29/19 Crown Hill neighborhood

On most bright days, I tend to seek out scenes to sketch with the sun at my back or side because I don’t want to look into the sun. But I admire the beautiful sketches of Virginia Hein, who often chooses backlit scenes of trees fringed with light. Another sketcher I admire is Pedro Barahona Rodriguez, and his recent backlit sketch showed a lovely outline of light around pedestrians.

Driving west to an afternoon errand, I spotted these trees in the Crown Hill neighborhood with the sun in front of me. I pulled over immediately and, with the help of the visor and my dark glasses, tried to capture the light on the tops of the trees and almost everything else in silhouette.

Why has it taken me eight years of sketching to finally see how much I am missing if I only look for the sunny side?