Clouds that the sun builds up darken him.

The sun helps produce clouds, yet those clouds can hide it. The image presents a reversal in which something brought into being obstructs the very thing that enabled it.

More broadly, an undertaking, creation, or beneficiary may diminish its maker's influence or visibility. The point is not that this always happens, but that producing something does not guarantee control over its effects.

Use it when someone's own work or actions give rise to something that later overshadows or hinders them. The image fits a reversal between creator and creation better than an unrelated setback.