Shrine

Please visit Rebecca at recuerda mi corazon and her gallery of hope here with the shrines so far. I think the shrine is finished. It has gone through a lot of changes. I think I might still add the word 'home' to the lid inside, but have not decided. I was inspired by the children's book 'The Way Home', which is a lovely, moving and sobering book about a homeless child. The fact that the auction is to help street children in Mexico made me think of this book. It is the tale of the child rescuing a kitten, also homeless and in need of help. He crosses the dangerous city, finally taking the kitten home-to the makeshift shelter where he lives. The shelter is decorated with pictures I think the boy has drawn, and is now home to him and his cat. The book is about home, in the most important sense-in how it is made-through love and care and being a special place to those who live there. I wanted to show that in my shrine. The heart on the lid of the shrine is to emphasise the importance of love in making a home. The box is quite simple on the outside-the heart is made using texture paste scraped on through a stencil. It was painted, sanded, drawn on and sanded again, then gold leafed. I wanted the heart to be rich, and gold leaf seemed a good idea to do that. The drawing is ink. I spent ages trying to decide how to express what I wanted to in as simple a way as possible-it is all in my journal! In the end I decided on 'home is made by LOVE'.

The inside of the box is painted with gouache and sealed, and the paintings are on tissue and were added on using matte medium.

I need to take better photos of the inside without such harsh shadows. The girl is made from air dry clay, the cat is needle felted and the blanket is painted and sealed tissue paper. The mirror is from the Thames bank. I like a mirror in my home. It is fixed in place with hot glue-it is all very lightweight so it has held ok. The whole process has been quite long but enjoyable. However, I was very nervous when it came to assembling it all this morning! I was relieved when I had done it!

I have left the original cigar box labels uncovered as they are so pretty. The cat on the base is a Victorian (facsimile) scrap I have had for ages and really like.

I will post details of the auction when I have worked it out myself. Rebecca, who is doing such a great job organising all this, has sent everyone details, but I have still to have a proper look. I will do soon Rebecca I promise!