Love, hope, peace

This is an assemblage piece done a year or so ago. Again, I'm posting from work, so I'm stealing pics from my webshots to use. A coworker gave me an AOL box she got in the mail. Another friend and coworker, Kim, (who sometimes read my blog but never comments!) either had one of these boxes, too, or Anita gave her one. Don't remember for sure, but, we challenged each other to do something with the box rather than just sticking it away. So a few weeks into the challenge, I sat down with the box and this was the result.

Sorry for the bad photos, but it was hard to not get a glare on the front. I cut a hole in the top of the cardboard box which opens like a book and glued in the front of a greeting card transparency of cathedral windows(have forgotten which ones these are). Gessoed the box, inside and out and then painted with several layers of paint, distressing them some. Added a rusted hook and a jewelry piece to make a question mark and on the bottom another rusted piece of metal with the word "seek".

For the inside, I made a cross out of polymer clay and glued it over the backside of the opening in the lid with a military button that has the word "peace" in the center. The entire wording is "where there is love, there is hope, where there is hope, there is peace". Some got cut out of the picture by the bad photographer, lol. Other embellishments are self-explanatory, I guess, except in the photo it's hard to see there are 3 rusted nails glued at the bottom of the right hand side.

To explain some of my thought process. I pray and wish for peace, hope, and love in the world and in my world, but feel that it is important that we find it within ourselves first and foremost. Then, even when we can't control the world around us, we can be at peace with ourselves and maybe start trying to do our part to share that with others in whatever way we can. For me this is intertwined with my religion and my belief in God, so of course, this is represented as well in this piece.

Ok, I don't think I was thinking straight when I posted about the giveaway. Between working 12 hours a day, doctor's appointment for the BIFOCALS, and life stuff(like trying to get the stupid wireless thing to work), I don't know how I thought I was going to get something ready for a prize. Obviously, my brain is fried. Must be those drugs I did in the seventies! Have decided to make this a combination 100th post and birthday celebration giveaway. So, this means I will take entries until September 14th. Also, instead of just using the entries on the one post below, I'm going to enter a person's name in the drawing for each day they comment on any posts until the 14th. Does that make sense? So if I blog 10 times between now and the 14th and you commented each of those 10 days, your name will be in the pot 10 times.

Hope you all are having a lovely holiday weekend. It's just another weekend to me, but that doesn't keep me from wishing those of you who get a holiday to have a good time and be safe!