the song of wandering aengus

Sunday, January 31st, 2010 | General | No Comments

With February and Valentine’s day approaching, I suppose the subject of this piece might be topical. Unrequited love, lust, restlessness, fantasy. I think it fits the theme for the Lust in Lustine show. I haven’t decided if I want to submit it or not. I probably will if I can find a decent frame tomorrow night though some people may be surprised not to see a SIAWOA piece from me (I have one in mind, but it will take a few weeks to execute. I’ll get to it at some point).

Anyway, this is the illustration I was working on last Tuesday when my computer shut off for 2 days. Luckily I didn’t lose much! Here’s the finished piece. It was actually inspired by Furnace Mountain’s musical setting of the poem by W.B. Yeats which you can hear on their MySpace page.

I’m continuing to experiment with my digital cut paper techniques and smart layers in Photoshop. It’s like 15 years ago watching the progress bars progress. Obviously this technique still needs refinement and I probably need a faster processor.

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Here is the text of the poem from Bartleby.com

The Song of Wandering Aengus

I went out to the hazel wood,
Because a fire was in my head,
And cut and peeled a hazel wand,
And hooked a berry to a thread;
And when white moths were on the wing,
And moth-like stars were flickering out,
I dropped the berry in a stream
And caught a little silver trout.

When I had laid it on the floor
I went to blow the fire a-flame,
But something rustled on the floor,
And someone called me by my name:
It had become a glimmering girl
With apple blossom in her hair
Who called me by my name and ran
And faded through the brightening air.

Though I am old with wandering
Through hollow lands and hilly lands,
I will find out where she has gone,
And kiss her lips and take her hands;
And walk among long dappled grass,
And pluck till time and times are done,
The silver apples of the moon,
The golden apples of the sun.

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Update: I did submit the piece to Lust as a modified 8″ x 10″ though the original size is 7.5″ x 10.5″.
I also put it up on Deviant Art and it’s now available as a greeting card through GCU, though I can’t guarantee their print quality.