WTWORLD TAGField notes from a changing world
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Where the Rides Go?

Watercolor Series

This project contains three large watercolor paintings that place amusement rides in impossible settings: a kingdom, the ocean, and a forest. Watercolor pencils, white highlights, and occasional acrylic additions enrich the texture while preserving a soft, vibrant mood. The playful titles and punctuation also maintain a childlike voice. Rather than forming one continuous story, the works explore different kinds of childhood happiness—adventurous excitement, bubbly celebration, and peaceful nostalgia. Animals, plants, and rides interact freely, following the logic of a child’s imagination. Growing up can turn life into Woolly’s repetitive “every-day-day” in The Lincoln Highway. These paintings are my attempt to refresh that imagination and encourage viewers to preserve moments of pure, positive fantasy. Hope you enjoy the rides!

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Watercolor of a rider on a carousel horse, a golden castle, a blue river and a giant beanstalk.

The collection

Three watercolor paintings · Select one to explore the artwork

01—03
Watercolor of a rider on a carousel horse, a golden castle, a blue river and a giant beanstalk.

Watercolor  /  01

Monarch on the Horse

Where the Rides Go? · Watercolor

This painting imagines a dreamy amusement world where I become a monarch riding at the front, almost like an emperor leading my fellow soldiers to embark on a new adventure. The rider’s face is blurred, which makes it universal to anyone, making my traits trivial in a vast wonderland. I used a mostly symmetrical composition, while letting the bright blue river wind toward the distant castle, as if it could carry me upward into the sky. The oversized beanstalk hints at Jack and the Beanstalk’s tale as my (potential) destination. Warm yellows create a glowing, cheering vibe, while the other horses become my “followers.” Over the watercolor background, I added white acrylic bases for the unicorn-horses, simultaneously applying watercolor pencils for texture in the vines, brown horse (and its fire hooves), and pillars.