This painting was a straightforward take on light, edging towards abstraction. When I lived in Taiwan, I often wandered and took photos of the local fauna and flora. The bodies of water and ponds layered with blankets of lily pads were always a beautiful sight and always invoked an idea in my head of a hidden aquatic world underneath.

Although similar to an algal (or algae) bloom, when they become heavily dense on the water’s surface, they can reduce sunlight to the water and reduce oxygen levels, damaging other life below in the water. In this way, lily pads can surprisingly cause harm.