"How We Quit the Forest"

"How We Quit the Forrest," a large digital illustration I'm working on concerning one of my favorite bands, Rasputina.

I tried to capture the band's history in one concept. For instance, the pictured andromorphs/awful freaks are the newest lineup - Melora Creager being the only constant.

The image of a deer being shot comes from "Hunter's Kiss," a song from what is currently Rasputina's mid-way point. That song creates a metaphor between a deer being shot down and being struck with love, describing it in both painful and ecstatic terms - exactly like St. Teresa described God's love being plunged through her heart as a gold spear. I've lifted the image of the "hunter' directly from the Baroque statue of St. Teresa in the basilica Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.

The idea of anthropomorphic animals living in the woods recalls the song I also chose as a title, "How We Quit the Forest," and the overall scene is meant to recall the artwork for that early album.