Triptych ~ Marie’s Key
Triptych ~ Marie’s Key
It’s not often when I can find a series of three antique postcards with the same model, at least not one as angelic as the young girl. I wanted to use all three images together in one of my reliquaries and came up with the idea of this triptych. I had two identical board books that I cut and melded together like a jigsaw puzzle. I almost ruined it when I realized I had glued all the back pages down. How was I going to achieve the depth I wanted if I couldn’t create the layered pages? Everything worked out, and I’m happy with the result.The young girl posed three different ways for these hand-tinted vintage postcards, so each section of this triptych is coordinated to match her dress colors: turquoise blue, pink, and mint green.
Marie used to collect butterflies and keep them pinned in a locked glass case that her father built for her. Simulated stained glass windows adorned with pictures of butterflies remind her of those days, as does the gold butterfly charm in the center of the triptych. Italian and embossed papers lie beneath the gold painted arches. Marie thinks the antique key belonged to her great-grandfather, but she’s not sure anymore, and the small note, tied with sheer pink ribbon, is a poem she wrote to herself one day when she was feeling sad.
The front of the book is covered with nubbly textured handmade pink paper. Gold painted filigree surrounds a fragile feathered butterfly that makes Marie think of the ones she once collected even though this one is an obvious fake.
