The Forest Witch and the Lonely Moon
2021 | Personal
I started this series because I was lonely. I was lonely, so I wrote a poem about the desire for intimacy.
Then I thought: Why not create a world of lonely beings? Lonely beings that each experience and deal with feelings of vacancy differently - a witch burdened with the gift of an all-seeing eye amidst a dark forest where vision is envied; fungi dogs leaching on any source and hint of light; a fallen moon seeking its way home; and a dark, vehemently consuming forest that obscures all light and hazes all thought.
Next Project
Goodnight, Moon
Media: Watercolor, gouache paint, colored pencil
15.5" x 10.75"
around me a hushing
sense of silence;
moist eyes and stretching hands poised
- the light was overbearing
so they stopped to stare at the descending moon.
Roaming through these woods are
wild, wild,
aching nights, and meeting you makes my stomach
brim
with water. I hold but a fragile,
ravenous
wish for an embrace.
The Forest Witch and the Eye
Media: Watercolor
10.75" x 7.75"
Upon Consumption
Media: Watercolor
10.75" x 7.75"
Fungi Dog
Media: Watercolor
10.75" x 7.75"
The Moon, Upon Consumption
Media: Sculpting clay, LED lights, plastic tubes, resin
Moon: 10.3" x 10.3" x 10.3"
Creature: 2.4" x 1" x 2"
Loneliness consumes. In this piece, a fallen moon rids its solitary state through the company of a fungi-dog hybrid. Though the dog is consuming its energy, the moon does not budge as it finds comfort in the sole idea of company.
On the other hand, the dog treats its loneliness by taking from others, consuming the moon’s energy with no regard whatsoever. Loneliness makes its victims vulnerable - whether to exploitation or one’s selfish desires. Consumed by desperate desires for company, the moon and the dog trap themselves in a toxic relationship.
Process
Studio Ghibli is my biggest inspiration, and after reading the manga series Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, I became obsessed with the idea of dystopian worlds with strange and eccentric critters. Thus came fungi-dog, the first character I created for the dark forest that is a hybrid of Teto from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, the tree spirits from Princess Mononoke, fungus, and dogs.
The Witch and the Moon came next. After writing Goodnight, Moon, I could not get the imagery of a witch reaching out for an embrace off my mind. So I sketched the image out, and it eventually became the first rough draft for the painting Goodnight, Moon.
But...I wasn't satisfied with just painting. The moon felt needed to bear weight and command presence. So, the crazy idea of a sculpture piece became the new itch. I did a few color swatches for the moon and set on sculpting, something I had never done before.