Brook

• Size: 24×18×0.75 in

• Medium: Oil on canvas

• Painting comes unframed

• Creation year: 2025

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

Brook 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 painting was inspired by a walk through a nearby forest preserve during a period of burnout. Work was unfulfilling and pulling me away from my art, and I had become trapped in a cycle of paralyzing anxiety for my career path and distracting myself from my problems with technology. 

Stepping into the preserve interrupted that spiral. Beneath the canopy, everything was bathed in cool shadow, with bits of sunlight glimmering through the leaves. Somewhere beyond the dense undergrowth, I could hear water flowing and bubbling. The forest floor was a shifting maze of shadow, light, and tangled greenery.

For a long time, I had become trapped in my own world, reinforcing my anxieties until everything felt immediate and overwhelming. The preserve reconnected me to something more physical, present, and a world larger than the mental loops I had been living inside. I returned home and painted Brook as a reflection on the ways stillness and beauty can interrupt cycles of fear and restore perspective.

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.