A nervous bride arrives at the church gates with a father who looks equally terrified.

The clues are in the Relic Box: buffet recipes, lace, a florally scented handkerchief, reminders about Mum’s pills — and one handwritten message from Dad:

“Tell Jean to squeeze my hand if she wants to turn round.”

A pivotal moment caught just before everything changes.

There’s still time to run.

An original character painting presented inside a unique found Relic Box with fragments from an imagined family life.

The Nervous Arrival- (A Nervous Bride Painting) – Original Relic Box

The Nervous Arrival is an original nervous bride painting capturing that breath-held moment outside the church when there is still a second when she can decide to turn around.

She has arrived at the church.

Unfortunately, she still has to go in.

A nervous bride stands at the gates with her dad beside her — and, to be fair, he doesn’t look much calmer. She may be wondering whether she is making the biggest mistake of her life. He may be thinking about his speech, the bill, or possibly both.

It is one of those pivotal moments when everything is about to change.

There is still time to run.

Inside the Relic Box are fragments of the family life surrounding that moment: buffet recipes, a piece of lace, a florally scented handkerchief and the practical little messages families have always passed between one another.

Among them is a handwritten note from father to himself:

“Tell Jean to Squeeze my hand if she wants to turn round.”

Alongside it are reminders about her mother's pills and the ordinary domestic details that continue even on the most important days of our lives.

That is what fascinates me about old family photographs. The picture records the occasion, but rarely tells us what anybody was really thinking.

This one-off Relic Box combines an original character painting with found objects and imagined memorabilia, creating clues to a story whose ending is left to you.

Did she walk through those church doors?

Did Dad ever have to give the speech?

And did she ever squeeze his hand?

Details

Original character painting Presented inside a unique found Relic Box Includes handwritten note, family messages, buffet recipes, lace, scented handkerchief and selected memorabilia Original artwork — only one available Signed by Sue Dewhurst

Part of my ongoing series of narrative figurative paintings exploring ordinary lives, family memory, humour and those tiny moments that somehow become the ones we remember.

Art with a story — even if it isn’t yours.

To find more in the Wedding Series click here