When I began this piece in February, I was feeling lost and disenchanted with my word-based artwork. I woke up with “The Wasteland” from Children of Eden stuck in my head, repeatedly singing out loud the line “lost in the wilderness” as I poured my morning coffee and went about my day.

The song remained stuck in my head, until I sat down in my living room and scribbled “Let’s Get Lost In The Wilderness” on a piece of paper. I began to surround the words with trees, leaves, mountains, rivers, flowers, and a variety of critters. I eventually added arrows pointing haphazardly in different directions to amplify the feeling of being lost.

Stylistically, this piece was a callback to my older ballpoint pen work, where I covered recycled materials with intricate patterns and images. It’s also no coincidence that this piece (and others like it) were completed after viewing Keith Haring’s “Untitled” at the Museum of Modern Art. The experience left me feeling both inspired and insignificant. I was frustrated that I might not ever create anything that beautiful and full of joy. At the same time, I was motivated to push harder and aim higher.

“Let’s Get Lost In The Wilderness” was my first attempt in doing this. Due to my lack of focus and the absence of a looming deadline, this 11 x 14 piece took over a month to complete. It technically only covers 9.5 x 12.5 inches of the surface. This is an amount of space that I’ve previously been able to cover within 3-7 days, and I’m trying to be kind to myself about my fluctuating motivation—especially in the midst of a global pandemic. It wasn’t exactly easy to work on a piece about going outside when I couldn’t go outside.

As far as materials go, this piece was completed on vellum paper with 005 Sakura Micron Pigma pens. Most of the pens had been used for previous pieces, so the tips were worn down and unpredictable. I tried to embrace the different line quality as much as possible, letting it guide how I formed shapes and images within this sprawling black-and-white landscape.

Once completed and framed, this piece was displayed in Confluence Gallery’s exhibition "Treespeak” from July 25 - August 29.