shoo fly, don’t bother me.

Published on by Quandie

Remember this little box that I picked up at the Goodwill near my mom’s house?

It’s nothing special, just a little box with a curved lid.  But I thought it would make a fun painting project.

After getting it home, I gave it a good cleaning and then got right into painting.

I painted the inside in one of Dixie Belle’s newest colors called Thicket.

Then I painted the outside of the box in another new color, Ecru.

Once dry, I sanded the edges to distress and then started adding transfers.

The black and white floral is from the I.O.D. Brocante transfer, and the color florals are from their Floral Anthology transfer.

The little bit of typography on the front of the lid is from an old re.design with prima transfer called Paris Valley.

And the “specimen no. 9” on the bottom corner is from a Tim Holtz rub-on.

Last but not least, how about those flies?  I put one on the top of the box …

and one on the front.

The flies are from one of the newer I.O.D. transfers called Wilde Bloemen.

Looking at those little flies on the box I can’t help but think of the Portrait of a Woman of the Hofer Family that was painted around 1470 by an unknown artist.  Are you familiar with it?  It belongs to the National Gallery in London.

If you look closely you’ll notice that this woman was painted with a fly on her headdress.

Not only does no one know who painted this or who the subject is, we also don’t know why she was painted with a fly on her head.  Some think that the purpose of the fly is simply to show how good the artist was at creating a very realistic painting.  Another possibility is that the fly was some sort of little trick, to make viewers attempt to shoo it away.  The subject is also holding a sprig of Forget-Me-Not’s, so perhaps the fly is symbolic.  The fly is often associated with death, so maybe this was a posthumous painting of this woman so that she would be remembered.  Again, no one really knows.

But for my part, I can imagine this woman constantly having to shoo a fly away while sitting for her portrait.   Eventually she gave a little smile and said to the artist ‘you might as well put it in the painting’ as her own little joke, and he did.

But now I wonder, why did I choose to put a pair of flies on my box?  They aren’t exactly pretty.  I do like the realistic feel they add though.  They give the box a ‘dark academia’ sort of vibe, like it belongs in a entomologist’s study.

I will admit that when I first saw those flies in the Wilde Bloemen transfer I wasn’t sure if I would ever use them, but now I kind of love what they added to this box.

What do you think?  Would you add a fly to one of your masterpieces?  And why do you think the unknown artist painted a fly on his subject’s headdress?  Leave a comment and let me know.

19 thoughts on “shoo fly, don’t bother me.”

  1. I have no idea about the fly in the painting, but I wonder if you know why there are so many antique ads in French but hardly any in English..

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  2. Love the little box transformation it’s a charmer. Interesting portrait probably because of the addition of the fly. So your original transfer came with the flies or you added them? Either way love the look.

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    1. The Wilde Bloemen transfer includes several flies. The flies are the only element I used from that transfer, the florals and wording on this box are from other transfers. So … I added them? I’m not sure I am answering your question with that 🙂

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  3. Love the little box transformation it’s a charmer. Interesting portrait probably because of the addition of the fly. So your original transfer came with the flies or you added them? Either way love the look.

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  4. I see the flies you added to your box it as a hint of humor and I would definitely be attracted to it. I love it! As for the portrait, I’d like to think that the fly actually appeared sometime during it’s creation and the artist thought it would add interest to an already unusual headpiece. Definitely adds interest for me.

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  5. I love how the box turned out, but I admit, I am not crazy about the flies. I live in cow country and battle flies all the time, so no flies for me, please. I do love everything else about the box. The new colors and that subtle transfer are lovely!

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    1. LOL, I hear that! I’m always flabbergasted by the amount of flies at my cousin’s farm in So Dakota. You can’t leave the windows down on your car or it will be full of flies when you come back out.

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  8. At a quilt show, I saw a beautiful all white quilt. The stitching on it was amazing. The quilter had embroidered one small black spider on it As people walked by looking at the quilt they would try and flick off that spider, thinking it was real. Everyone got a laugh. Maybe that’s why the painter put in the fly. Such an everyday occurrence, those pesky flies.

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      1. Yesterday we were in our shed looking for one of my bird baths. It was so dark my husband turned on the flashlight on his phone and we saw a shadow of a spider crawling upwards. I ran out of there so fast because we didn’t see where the actual spider was but I’m sure it was caiming to land on me Ewwww is right! I like the fly though.

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    1. …the subject sitting so still while getting their portrait painted…despite a fly landing on him/her. I think it’s great! A sense of humor did exist back then too.

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