A Study of Night: A lot of the work Iâm doing lately involves dark woods, forests at night. Learning to draw these places better means spending time in this environment. Which is also something, until recently, I was extremely afraid of. This summerâs camping trips and evening forest explorations have allowed me to literally face that Fear. During my most recent late-night study of the woods I realized itâs the obscurity that causes my fear. In the darkest of dark, shapes blend together and stop making sense to the eye. The imagination runs wild on what can barely be seen. Even worse is the periphery. In the moonlight or firelight there are some rain-damp leaves that catch barely a glint of light, which canât be seen when I look directly at it. But a turn of the head and the light is brighter in the periphery. Is it really a damp leaf? Or a will-o-the-wisp? Or something more sinister? For me the real Fear isnât in monsters that are right in front of you: itâs in the intangible that plays with your eyes.Â