In Lightning Kiss the central figures are the kissing couple in the foreground. The gathering behind is there to represent visually what the kissing couple feel emotionally. The crowd are gathering around an unseen holy person, whose form is hidden but still illuminates and enlightens. The lone dark outside the crowd are both physically and metaphoricaIly in the dark.
I needed a bright shape in the sky to balance the light coming from the crowd, and to connect the lightning indirectly to the sea. I settled on a white bird with outstretched wings, visually echoing the clouds and conceptually linking to scenes of baptism.