Tangled Branches
Alex Hinders, 2015.
Colored pencil and pen.
8.5″ x 11″
The Forest is a theme that seems to run rampant across my body of artwork. (I just took a look at the ‘Browse by Title’ page and I count at least eight forest related drawings, with this one included.) At first, I thought that the forest only related to my romantic life — the first time I really noticed it was after an ex and I literally broke-up in a forest. But lately, I’ve been thinking that the forest encompasses far more than just relationships. I think that the forest, to me, represents the stage on which we all act. All of the decisions that we make, all of the actions that we decide to take — all of this takes place in the forest.
Color-wise, you’ll notice that this uses the dangerous red and green color scheme. Although these two colors are complimentary to one another, the combination has a strong connection to Christmas here in the US. This can lead to a sort of un-conscious connection to the holidays that can become a conscious connection and then undermine the tone and meaning of drawing. I tried to side-step that by making most of the red and green shaded with black, hopefully providing a sense of menace that wouldn’t get mistaken with any sort of Christmas cheer. The use of lines going in opposing directions also heightens this tension.