Create A Personal Talismans Shrine

Personal Talismans Shrine

In these uncertain times we find ourselves living in, I have been having a hard time settling into any kind of regular painting process.  I have been feeling scattered and jittery, and I needed a project that was simple and intuitive to work on.  I decided on this little personal talismans shrine project - a quick and fun way to express my creativity and make something meaningful to me that gives me pleasure, both in the act of creating it and in the finished project.

 I started with a tin box, 4.5 x 8 inches.  This box once held a rubber stamp set, but you can use a variety of tin boxes.  If you don't have a tin box, consider making a shrine using a small cardboard box instead. 

 This is what the box looked like inside.

 I found a piece of paper from a pad of designer paper I use in teaching my mixed media workshops, and selected this section to line the left side of the box.  Using the box as a template, I drew around it with a pen and cut the paper the correct size to neatly fit inside the box.  I found the image on the right in a magazine - I thought the sidewalk, trees and fence were pretty, and I gravitated to the words.  I love my words!  I cut this magazine page out and sized the bit I wanted to fit, again using the box itself as a template.  At this point I did not affix either piece to the box.

Alternatives to magazine images or designer papers could be old letters, photographs, drawings or other memorabilia that hold meaning for you.

Working on the left piece first, I searched for images in magazines, poetry books, and decorative papers I had on hand that appealed to me.  Using a glue stick, I attached them to the left page.  In the intuitive process you go with your gut regarding the selection of imagery, rather than spending too much time thinking about it.  If something catches your eye, cut it out!  If you don't end up using it in this project, you may in another down the road.

I did the same with the right page.  To unite the two sides of the shrine I had the image of the flock of birds extend from the left page to the right.  This gives the piece a feeling of cohesion.  In addition, the color palette is similar on each side, although not the same.  I used a glue stick to affix both pages to the box.

Below are some snippets of both pages. Again, here you could use bits of old letters, photographs, song lyrics, poetry or text to add special meaning to your pages.

The finished shrine includes the beaded baby bracelet from when I was born (a very cool item that is no longer given to the mother at birth, but these beautiful little bracelets were standard issue in the 1950s and 1960s) a crystal that was given to me by one of my English friends for good luck in my travels home, when I moved back to Canada from England, and reminds me of the bittersweet day in York that we all spent together as my send off, shells from a vacation, a pink quartz necklace from a dear departed friend, a special rock that I picked up on a beach at Friendly Cove on Vancouver Island when I was 10 years old (famous for being the place Captain James Cook landed in Nootka Sound in March, 1778) and a necklace of a baby bird in a nest that my mother gave me for Easter when I was a young girl.  How did she know I would grow up to be a chicken fanatic?

These items were either hot glued in place, positioned along the ledge created by the bottoms of the box, or draped over the edge of the box or laid in front of it.

Now we get to the interesting bit about the intuitive art process.  As I was typing the above description I realized what the significance of all of the items, imagery AND the text on the left page is all about.  Until now I have not seen the common thread.  (The reason why I love the act of writing as much as I love the act of creating art!)  The birds and the text were from an article about migration, of both animals and humans.  The photo of Big Ben represents my time in England.  All of the items - rocks, shells and crystals - in some way represent new horizons and relationships experienced through particularly significant travel experiences and my personal migration - i.e. coming home.

None of the items in the shrine were selected ahead of time.

I say this so many times to my students - the act of creating intuitive art can be a truly revealing process.  When we let go of directing and actively, intentionally choosing, and instead just go with our immediate responses to our environment - which image in a magazine catches our attention, which things that surround us all of a sudden present themselves as a piece to add to a project - some kind of amazing synergy happens.

This synergy does not reveal itself during the process, it is only revealed upon contemplation of the process afterward.  And that, my friends, is the truly incredible thing about creating intuitive art.

The personal talismans shrine is currently residing on my dining room sideboard, where I walk past it every day multiple times.  It gives me pleasure and comfort, and it is portable, so I can move it to another location later on if I choose to.  Some people have a designated area in their home where they meditate, do yoga, read, or daydream, and a shrine like this would be a lovely addition to such a spot!

In these unsettled times, creativity - whether singing, dancing, creating art, cooking, baking, writing, gardening, or any other activity that gives your heart a thrill - can help us stay calm and grounded, and secure in our own selves if not the greater world around us.  Find one creative thing to focus your attention on and see if it brings you some comfort.  All the best from me to all of you.  Stay safe and healthy at home, and create!  xxx