hundred years


Woman King
watercolor and ink on Arches cold press
nitpicky touch ups in photoshop

I had been wanting to do an illustration for Iron and Wine's "woman king" for a while now, and though I had fun with this one, I think I could do an entire series of images on the song and still not capture it as I'd intended. The entire woman king ep is one of my favorite albums, actually. I always find it very soothing/invigorating to listen to when I work late at night. A lot of the aesthetic for this one came from Annie Leibovitz's photography, which I've been looking more into lately.

Precollege is in full swing now. I'd forgotten how much I like teaching. Working in design classes is a lesson in itself. I really like working with Jeff Bleitz, it makes me wish the majors worked together more. We really do have a lot to teach each other.



Blackbird claw, raven wing
Under the red sunlight
Long clothesline, two shirtsleeves
Waving as we go by

Hundred years, hundred more
Someday we may see
A woman king
Wristwatch time
Slowin' as she goes to sleep

Black horsefly, lemonade
Jar on the red anthill
Garden worm, cigarette
Ash on the windowsill

Hundred years, hundred more
Someday we may see
A woman king
Sword in hand
Swing at some evil and bleed

Black hoof mare, broken leg
Eye on the shotgun shell
Age old dog, hornet nest
Built in the big church bell

Hundred years, hundred more
Someday we may see
A woman king
Bloodshot eye
Thumb down and starting to weep

7 comments:

Trish Tatman said...

Jeff Bleitz is the shit- and you can tell him I said that. Oh, and ask him if he's doing Portfolio for the seniors this year with Edwin or Doug, because he wouldnt tell us last semester...

Unknown said...

erin this is so beautiful, i love it.

Anonymous said...

Erin,
I always like seeing the work you produce. It has come such a long way from a tree growing out of a toilet you did while in elementary school!

Candy Smith

Arrolynn said...

This is beautiful Erin! Thanks for the comment, but no :( Starbucks didn't work out. The manager and interior designer said yes, but the head guy said no. I do have a children's book deal slowly developing though :)

Olumuyiwa Ajagbe said...

Wow Erin. I never knew that you had a blog but I'm glad you do. Your work is great. I remember looking through you sketchbooks way back when. You definitely are turning out some good work. Hope all is well.

Olu.

Ali A said...

Erin I really like this piece, I can't wait to see your work next year

Duncan Barton said...

great color on this one.