I created this piece in celebration of the epic contribution to American literature and culture that is Jack Kerouac’s “On The Road.” Conceptually, I wanted to communicate more about the experience of developing and writing the book than about the story itself, as I was fascinated by the idea that it was written on one long continuous roll of paper, which so perfectly suits Kerouac’s narrative style. For this project, I researched the places Kerouac visited for inspiration in the ephemera I chose to depict, studied the model of typewriter he used, the way he took notes that would become the book, and many other details about this now famous trip – including the fact that he kept a copy of Ernest Hemingway’s novel “The Sun Also Rises” with him for the journey. I knew I had to build something special for this idea, and I wanted to do it justice, as On The Road had such a deep impact on me as a teen when I first discovered it so many years ago.

For this piece, I overlaid vintage road maps with watercolor paper and worked over this with watercolor, gouache, and colored pencil. Each object is individually cut out and placed on the background, and I selected excerpts from the book to include in the composition.