When we are children, we live partly in a fantasy world that shelters us from many of the hard truths of life. Our friendships, developed in and colored by this world, have a special aura for us later in life. Grieving after the death of a dear childhood friend, I began building A Tad Shy (aka Farewell from the Red Castle) brick by brick, without a plan. After the wall with its embedded faces, the little girl appeared and evolved. Then, from a dream, came the red flying creature. The green behind the castle wall started simply as a tree. The piece was almost complete before I saw that the tree doubled as a mother hen and her chick--emblems of guardianship reinforcing the idea of the protective castle.

A Tad Shy is available with or without the cream-colored oak frame.