Gifts for my Mom

A digital scan of a print I made for my mom.  This print was modeled after KCJoughDoitch's "Radial Sunset" on DeviantArt.com.

Hiba's post about Mother's Day inspired me to try some creative projects.  

I have two things to share with you: a picture and a song.  Both of these were gifts for my mom.  I had a lot of fun making them, and I think she liked them.

My Linoleum Print
My mom and dad love boating, the beach, the ocean and lighthouses.

This picture was made using a print-making technique called linocut.  To make a linocut, you start with a square of linoleum.  It's similar to the material used for floors.  It's like a hard rubber.  Using special tools, you cut away at the linoleum to make your picture.  Finally, you cover the linoleum square (called a relief) in ink, and press a sheet of paper on to it.

Audio Collage: The Lake Isle of Innisfree
A few years ago, my mom visited Ireland.  She has Irish ancestry, and celebrates St. Patrick's day every year.  She bought a book of poetry by W. B. Yeats, and gave it to me when she returned.  I decided to try and make a song using a recording of W. B. Yeats reading his most famous poem: The Lake Isle of Innisfree. You can find the transcript of the recording, and the text of the poem below.  You will also find some background information too.

I think I should warn you: this song is pretty weird.  There's guitar music I made, and there are also many sounds I recorded in nature, of water, insects, and birds.  There's also pieces of really old songs, and static and noise.  

I think it sounds like a radio, moving between stations.  This is an original recording, but I do borrow from some other people.  The borrowed sources are at the bottom.  
  
Text: The Transcript and Poem
I'm going to begin with a poem of mine called The Lake Isle of Innisfree. Because if you know anything about me, you will expect me to begin with it. It is the only poem of mine which is very widely known. When I was a young lad in the town of Sligo, I read Thoreau's essays, and wanted to live in a hut on an island in Lough Gill, called Innisfree, which means "heather island."   I wrote the poem in London, when I was about 23.

One day in the Strand, I heard a little tinkle of water, and saw in a shop's window, a little jet of water balancing a ball on top. It was an advertisement, I think, for a cooling drink. But it set me thinking of Sligo, and lake water.

I think there is only one obscurity in the poem. I speak of noon as a purple glow. I must have meant by that the reflection of heather in the water.

The Lake Isle of Innisfree

I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree,

And a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made;

Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee,

And live alone in the bee loud glade.

And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow,

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings;

There midnight's all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,

And evening full of the linnet's wings.

I will arise and go now, for always night and day

I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;

While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,

I hear it in the deep heart's core.

- W.B. Yeats

Background Information

W. B. Yeats, near the time of the BBC recording.  Image found at WikiMedia Commons, originally from  National Library of Ireland on The Commons @ Flickr Commons

W. B. Yeats is considered by many scholars to be one of the greatest English-language poets of the 20th century.  He was the first person from Ireland to received a Nobel Prize for literature, but was not popular during his lifetime.

He wrote the poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree in 1888.  He read his poem on BBC radio in 1932.

  

You can hear the original recording of Yeats here.

About My Recording
This song was made from many different pieces.  I used recordings I made playing the guitar.  I also used my iPhone to record nature.

I use several samples of old recordings from ExcavatedShellac.com.

I also use a field recording from Luftrum's Drone Atmosphere, found on FreeSound.org.

All of the sounds were edited and mixed using Audacity.

-Eric, NYC, USA