When Katie Kalupson wrote me to commission a work, I was delighted. And I thought Time magazine is one of the places I want to be with my illustrations.

Nicole Chung has written a wonderful piece on going through grief, critiquing this society that leaves us little time, even to deal with our feelings.

The art direction chose the most immediate idea I proposed: the weeping willow.

The face of the protagonist is hidden by the tree and the whole landscape around her is transmuted. When we experience mourning, everything around us takes on the contours of it, it is full of it. 

And Blue and the shades of blue become the palette of this illustrated pain.