Rusalka, Rusalka — The Wild Rushes

Last summer, Rock the Ruins (a concert venue at Holliday Park) held a concert by one of my favorite bands, the Decemberists! -fun fact: the lead singer of the band is Colin Meloy, who also wrote the book “Wildwood.” He is married to one of my all time favorite illustrators, Carson Ellis (who is amazing in every way).

One of my favorite songs by the Decemberists is called “Rusalka, Rusalka- The Wild Rushes.” It’s a ballad about these creatures from Russian folklore, called Rusalka. The Rusalka (pronounced “roo-saul-kah”) are a bit like Sirens from Greek mythology. They are women who have drowned and turned into long-haired, ghostly, aquatic banshees who lure hot men into their pond to eat them. Like Zsa Zsa Gabor! The song is very haunting and beautiful, but also folky and catchy (as odd a mix as that sounds.)

I wanted to make a piece of art to give to the band, so I made this linocut! I used a 9 X 12 piece of soft cut linoleum and a Speedball carving tool. I sketched out my design digitally on Procreate, transferred it onto the block, carved it out, inked it, then printed the finished piece onto a large piece of Bristol paper. Then I signed it, rolled it up, and headed out to the show!

After a lot of walking and a smidge of sneaking backstage, my dad and I successfully delivered the piece to Colin Meloy …‘s agent. Oh well. I’m sure the band received it eventually. :)

The concert was great, by the way.