This original art piece is made up of four smaller art pieces in one frame. "Forgotten beneath the floorboards of an empty cottage...is a small wooden chest...it has years of dust...and a lock with no key" is the evocative legend written on the frame. This one sparks the imagination! This artwork includes many layers of encaustic (beeswax) medium, original photographs of abandoned cottages in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, vintage wallpaper, paper, and handwriting fragments, oil paint, and vintage rusty hardware. The four mini pieces (each 4 inches by 4 inches) are framed together in a wooden shadowbox frame in a lovely shade of midnight blue. On the sides of each mini art piece are drips from the hot beeswax medium, which adds to the tactile nature of the finished piece.

The encaustic wax encases the images, and each new layer lets the layers below show through. Every piece incorporating vintage items tells a story with little found objects like keys and hardware, well loved over time. Encaustic collage pieces offer a wonderful depth, texture, and tactile nature for the viewer to enjoy.
Overall size is 10 x 10 inches. On birch board, signed, ready for hanging.