This series began as a simple exploration of Indian, Japanese and Black American cultures representing a tree doing Tree pose. Later explores bodies not seen often in yoga such as Black full figured people, Black men, The elderly, and Youths. Particularly the last of the series Sugar Maple Explores the power and potential in black youths and ask the question…When does a black child become something seen as dangerous to the world?
1. “Vrksasana Blossom” 2019
At the cross path of Indian, Japanese, and Black cultural influence exist a black cherry blossom tree in tree pose.
Here is my new piece “Vrksasana Blossom” This is an old yoga pose sketch loosely based off an ex from a couple years ago that I decided to circle back to and make into something more. The character idea came from talented bay area artist @femone43emb. We did an art show together once and she had an amazing Tree Nymph piece I was inspired by. This piece took about 30 hrs. 100% Vector. Biggest challenge was figuring out how to create the flowers in a way that wouldn’t kill me (still did).
2. “Vrksasana Willow” 2019
“Vrkasana Willow” summer sequel piece to “Vrkasana Blossom” wanted to experiment with layered foliage and a different body type this time. Had to take a lot of time to observe how light passes through willow trees since I really rarely draw scenery. Another challenge was converting the body type in a way that felt similar enough to the last one yet stands alone by itself.
4. “Vrksasana Sugar Maple” 2022
“Vrksasana Sugar Maple” – We all know what it’s like to be afraid, but do we all know what it’s like to be feared? At what stage of a saplings growth does it become something to be scared of?
I’ve had the idea for this piece for a while, but it’s evolved a lot. I physically began working on this during my first art residency of the year with @artventures in Missouri. I observed maple trees deeply through several long walks in the forest. Even the resort I was at had maple leaves carved into the furniture. It was the perfect place to start this process.
I’ve learned quite a lot from each on of these pieces. “Vrksasana Willow” taught me how to portray foliage depth, “Chill Oak” Taught me about how to incorporate branches into my geometric forms. In my previous piece “Island spirit” I learned how efficiently create foliage.
“Vrksasana Chill Oak” had a lot of geometry that I ended up hiding to fit with the previous 2 pieces. I considered doing the same here, however I worked pretty hard to make sure the forms had meaning and were truly part of multiple aspects of the piece. Hard to how many hours, but easily over 60. Check out close ups here.
3. “Vrksasana Oak” 2020
“Vrkasana Willow” wenter follow-up piece to “Vrkasana Blossom” Wanted to do a male this time for a number of reasons. One being I rarely draw males, or black males aside from myself often. Also found that in researching reference for this there isn’t enough black male representation in yoga. Really happy about how this came out. It was about 40hrs of work. Biggest challenge here was figuring out how to make the bare branches adapt to my geometric forms while still maintaining seeming natural.
This series was accepted to SWBID’s Beautification project in the Southwest part of DC.
