Shadow Box #17 ~ Inside and Outside Series ~ “The Little Man In The House With Much Heart”

The idea for this one started with the painting fragment that serves as the façade of the house. It is part of an acrylic painting I did a while ago. (I used another piece of this painting for Shadow Box # 11 ~ “The Heart Has Its Reasons”.) The holes were part of the original painting, and when I cut this piece to fit into the space, the large hole suggested a door. That led to the idea of the little man.

The little man is a spinoff of the 365 project series (2012), namely the projects that called for making something out of materials of all the same color. I made a series of horses using wadded up newspaper as a supporting structure, then covering that with fabric and wrapping it with yarn. At that time, I had thought of trying to make little human figures. The little man didn’t want arms, or even much of a distinctive head, for that matter. But we know he is a little man.

The heart in the window is made of painted Sculpey.

The inside is lined with a drawing on Bristol board. It shows the wallpaper in the house and the sky, the outside walls and the little front yard with stepping stone walkway. I painted the outside frame with colors that match those on the inside walls.

The black frame around the opening is mat board with the title of the piece, plus some decorative do-dads in colored pencil. All coated with acrylic gel medium.

This shadow box is 8” X 8”. Granted, it’s a bit silly, but I love it. I don’t think it’s an accident that when I started making it a few nights ago I was listening to On Being with Krista Tippett (WV Public Radio) and her guest was Dr. Stuart Brown, a “pioneer in the research on play”.

The little man will be back, I’m pretty sure.