Ocean's Embrace

• Size: 16×20×0.625 in

• Medium: Oil on canvas

• Painting comes unframed

• Creation year: 2025

• Signed on the side, and includes a Certificate of Authenticity

Ocean’s Embrace is part of my series Drifting Through Suburbia, a body of work reflecting on the emotional complexity of returning home during periods of uncertainty and transition.

This piece was inspired by sunlight reflecting across a pond in my neighborhood. It made me think of Icarus, who perished flying too close to the sun. At the time, I had just decided to take my art seriously, and the choice felt both exhilarating and terrifying. I worried that I was pursuing something impossible, and that like Icarus, hubris would be my downfall. 

But as these thoughts churned inside me, the pond was peaceful, its surface rippling gently beneath the light.

I have frequented this pond since childhood. I watched its water level rise and fall with the rain, freeze over in winter and disappear beneath thick snow, watched its fish slowly disappear, and geese return each spring to nest along its banks. And now it was still there: dark water glittering in the sun, serene and beautiful, unaffected by the urgency I projected onto my future. 

The painting became a reflection on how temporary our fears can be, even when they feel all-consuming. And even during those moments of fear, beauty continues to exist in the present.

Returns and exchanges are not accepted.

If your order arrives damaged, please contact me at alyssa.t.zhang@gmail.com within 21 days of delivery with photos of the issue for a refund.