UNSUPERVISED - Ghee Phua - 'But Now They Only Block the Sun' ink drawings

**All proceeds split evenly between Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

But Now They Only Block The Sun

This series was born from my love of “Both Sides Now” by Joni Mitchell. Her use of clouds as a metaphor to reflect on various aspects of life sparked my imagination. It led to my expansion of their representation, including various aspects of US politics, the current US political climate and its two party system. With influences from Van Gogh, Ogata Korin, Adrian Ghenie and Egon Schiele, they added to the visual language as the series developed. I further found inspiration from popular media, images from medical science, and other sources.

The clouds in the early drawings stretched the idea of the left and right regions of the brain to represent the politics of the left and right. As the works evolved, the thumbnail sketches led to clouds with various motifs, further expanding the meanings to represent the different states, politicians, and the mutability of politics.

Politics are often grouped into tribes as seen in the represented colors. However, thinking of individuality, the complexity of human nature and again mutability, I created the clouds with the goal of none being exactly alike.

With the idea of money affecting politics and Trump’s love of gold, I decided to add the color gold. The series is created in a somewhat chronological narrative format in tracing the changes and polarization in US politics. And with resistance rising, it leads to the largest drawing with a message of hope and action.

1. But Now They Only Block The Sun 

June 24, 2025

Pen and Ink On Watercolor Paper

10 1/16" x 6 1/8"

$250 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

I have loved "Both Sides Now," by Joni Mitchell, for a long time. I found the song even more

powerful and profound when at 80 years old, she sang it at the 66th Grammy Awards.

As I listened to the song repeatedly, it inspired my desire to create a drawing. However, it wasn't until recently that the parts came together and made this creation possible.

Like many people, the current political situation and its impact on the US was foremost on my mind. Then, as I was traveling by rail on a recent trip in Europe, gazing upon the sky, the clouds reminded me of the song and my mind started imagining the forms and the meanings they would form. The clouds became a representation of the thoughts and the rhetoric of the left and right politics. In the discourse, they began blocking out the sun, affecting the land and people.

Ghee Phua

2. The Falling Stars 

July 15, 2025

Pen and Ink on Watercolor Paper

6 1/4" × 10 1/8"

$250 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

The Falling Stars is inspired by But Now They Only Block The Sun, 1. Like the first drawing, this work is an observation of the current US political situation. The clouds are brain-like, colored in various blues, reds, purples to represent the political spectrum. However, now gold is introduced. The idea is of how money infiltrates and influences politics. I am reminded that Trump likes things that are in gold. There are a total of 50 stars. They are falling and a number of them have fallen onto land as represented by 13 bands, recalling the stripes of the flag.

Ghee Phua

3. But Now They Only Block The Sun

August 2, 2025

Pen and Ink on Watercolor Paper

6 15/16" x 9 13/16"

$250 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

I looked back to the first drawing, and this was born.

Ghee Phua

4. Where The Money Flow

Pen and Ink on Watercolor Paper

8 ¼ “ x 11x ½”

$325 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

At this point, I was suffering from an artist’s block. I look at Van Gogh’s paintings of Cyprus trees and Ogata Korin’s works for inspiration. This work was born from their creations.

Ghee Phua

5. The Forgotten Ones in Blue and Gold 

September 10, 2025

Pen and Ink on Watercolor Paper

6 1/4" × 9”

$250 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

While working on my current series of drawings, I sketched many interpretations of clouds that were not used. I decided to put them together to create this drawing.

Ghee Phua

6. The Forgotten Ones in Red & Gold 

September 17, 2025

Pen and Ink on Watercolor Paper

6 1/8" x 9 1/4"

$250 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

Ghee Phua

7. The Blue Machine, for Robert 

October 2, 2025

Pen and Ink on Watercolor Paper

7" x 9"

$250 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

I decided to create this drawing and a later one as I had told Robert that I wanted to create one

drawing in all blue and one in all red. Inspired by the previous two drawings, this 7th creation depicts the Democratic party as a machine.

Ghee Phua

8. Agent Orange 

October 28, 2025

Pen and Ink on Watercolor

9" x 7"

$250 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

Following ideas from the previous drawing and taking inspiration from what Bette Midler said during her interview with Stephen Colbert, I created this drawing. Another inspiration came from several abstract portraits by Adrian Ghenie. The title of this drawing partly came from the chemical that the US used during the Vietnam War. I would like to thank Alan Lessik for his help with the title.

Ghee Phua

9. Agent Orange II 

November 5, 2025

Pen and Ink on Watercolor Paper

9" × 7"

$250 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

Taking inspiration from Agent Orange, I decided to create another portrait, left-confronting, and

appearing more menacing.

Ghee Phua

10. The Red Machine 

November 17, 2025

Pen and ink on watercolor paper

7" × 9"

$225 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

This drawing visualizes the Republican party as a machine that pumps and delivers its ideas to and from the populace.

Ghee Phua

11. Nolite Te Bastardes Carborundorum 

February 1, 2026

Pen and ink on Watercolor Paper

9 × 14"

$500 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

The title of this drawing was inspired by the eponymous title of season 1, episode 4 of The

Handmaid's Tale.

Ghee Phua

12. Hope 

Aug 29, 2026

Pen and Ink on Watercolor Paper

13 ½” x 18”

$850 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project

When I envisioned this drawing midway through this series, I thought of the saying,

“Every cloud has a silver lining.”  With the mid-term elections approaching, I wanted to end the series with hope so I used silver and created the largest drawing.

Ghee Phua

13. BFF 

September 23, 2026

Pen and Ink on Watercolor Paper

9” x 14”

$450 Proceeds benefit Queer Arts Featured & LGBT Asylum Project