Artist: Cindy Revell
Puzzle Design: Jasen Robillard
Dimensions: 31.5 cm x 39.5 cm
Piece Count: 444
Difficulty: 4 out of 5
“Action absorbs anxiety.” — Scott Galloway
“Perhaps all the dragons in our lives are princesses who are only waiting to see us act with beauty and courage.” — Rainer Maria Rilke (from Letters to a Young Poet)
“Everything you want is, by definition, outside of your current grasp. Waking up to the real need, is the first seed of discernment.”
Table of Contents
About the Artist: Cindy Revell
Returning for her second StumpCraft collaboration after the success of Something Good Waits, Cindy Revell showcases her signature folk-art vibrancy with Indulgence. Her portrayal of a cat and bird peacefully resting atop a mountain of pillows provides the perfect canvas for us to explore the shape of comfort in our lives through the fable of The Princess and The Pea. True to the title, the chunky wood pieces feel truly indulgent in the hand, offering a tactile weight that matches the richness of the patterns in the art and the story.
Cindy Revell is a Canadian artist known for her vividly coloured oil paintings featuring spirited animals, birds, and vibrant flowers. Growing up on a farm in Carrot River, Saskatchewan, Revell spent her childhood reading, drawing, and developing her artistic talents. She studied Environmental Graphic Design at Grant MacEwan University and worked as a graphic designer and award-winning freelance illustrator before transitioning to oil painting. Revell's work is inspired by nature, folk art, and artists like Friedensreich Hundertwasser and Henri Rousseau. Her paintings explore themes of individuality, connection, and the possibilities of "what if". Revell is a member of The Oil Painters of America and a signature member of The Federation of Canadian Artists (AFCA).
Links
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The Princess and the Pea - poem by Jane Shore (1973)
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The Tools by Phil Stutz and Barry Michels – Exploring the intersection of psychology and actionable change.
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Shrinking on Apple TV – A series exploring "cognitive behavioral therapy" through a lens of humor and raw action.
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The Gift of Fear by Gavin de Becker – Understanding the survival signals of intuition and anxiety.
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The Five Keys to Mindful Communication – Susan Gillis Chapman’s guide to the "Traffic Signal" metaphor.
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Nonviolent Communication – Marshall Rosenberg’s framework for identifying needs beneath our "wants."
Jasen’s Puzzle Design Notes
The Fable: The Princess and The Pea
We all believe we know the story: a rain-soaked girl at the gate, twenty mattresses, and a single, perhaps insignificant yet bothersome pea.
Hans Christian Andersen’s tale can be read as a nuanced and contrasting exploration of "royal entitlements" and “noblesse oblige”. From the satirical 1959 musical Once Upon a Mattress to Jane Shore’s 1973 poem, the story has long served as a mirror for our own personal and cultural sensitivities.
I’m personally always curious about what lies beneath the surface. Given the core inspiration of this puzzle, I think it’s worthwhile to spend time with the original fable.
ONCE upon a time, there was a prince who wanted to marry a princess; but she would have to be a real princess. He travelled all over the world to find one, but nowhere could he get what he wanted. There were princesses enough, but it was difficult to find out whether they were real ones. There was always something about them that was not as it should be. So he came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to have a real princess.
One evening a terrible storm came on; there was thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.
It was a princess standing out there in front of the gate. But, good gracious! what a sight the rain and the wind had made her look. The water ran down from her hair and clothes; it ran down into the toes of her shoes and out again at the heels. And yet she said that she was a real princess.
“Well, we’ll soon find that out,” thought the old queen. But she said nothing, went into the bed-room, took all the bedding off the bedstead, and laid a pea on the bottom; then she took twenty mattresses and laid them on the pea, and then twenty eider-down beds on top of the mattresses.
On this the princess had to lie all night. In the morning she was asked how she had slept.
“Oh, very badly!” said she. “I have scarcely closed my eyes all night. Heaven only knows what was in the bed, but I was lying on something hard, so that I am black and blue all over my body. It’s horrible!”
Now they knew that she was a real princess because she had felt the pea right through the twenty mattresses and the twenty eider-down beds.
Nobody but a real princess could be as sensitive as that.
So the prince took her for his wife, for now he knew that he had a real princess; and the pea was put in the museum, where it may still be seen, if no one has stolen it.
There, that is a true story.
In designing Indulgence, I leaned into the idea that the "pillows" and "mattresses" are metaphors for the comfort we use to shield ourselves from reality. We often treat anxiety or fear as "storms" to seek shelter from, much like the Princess seeking refuge from the thunder and lightning outside the castle walls.
However, as Phil Stutz and Barry Michels argue in The Tools, and Gavin de Becker explores in The Gift of Fear, our discomfort and anxiety are often a vital signals —"gifts" that demands our attention. The princess is invited to 'lie all night,' but by morning, she realizes she’s been attempting to sleep on something hard that was impossible to ignore. Once the pea is identified and appropriate action takes root (putting the pea where it belongs), she is recognized for the person she really is.
The puzzle really shines as a fun way to explore discernment. I’ve deliberately tried to mimic Cindy’s brushstrokes and patterns so you can sort the pieces by shape and colour. You’ll also be teased by the various orange cats hidden throughout the puzzle, a bit like the Cheshire Cat in their ability to camouflage and wink at you once found. And finally, I’ve added two hidden alternate solutions.
The first is a pea pod with three differently coloured peas. These perfect circles will need special attention in order to place in alignment with the reality of the background art. They are also inspired by Susan Gillis Chapman’s Traffic Signal metaphor. You might even take the time to notice where your emotional state goes at various points in the puzzle-solving process:
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Green (Go) Zone: “Pff—easy!”
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Yellow (Caution) Zone: “Let’s slow down—something’s not quite right.”
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Red (Stop) Zone: “I need a break, NOW.”
Even better, you might strive to attain the calm responsiveness of the "Old Queen", who with time, has constructed a home where she can be comfortable even when acutely aware of the disruptions to flow.
The Whimsy Legend: Hidden Narratives
As you sort through the vibrant patterns of Indulgence, keep a keen eye out for these thematic shapes. They are not merely silhouettes; they are the "hidden seeds of discernment" tucked within the layers of Cindy’s art and our StumpCraft puzzle design.
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The Observers: The Judge & The Seeker
The Queen with her scepter represents the external gaze—the judge who sets the conditions and tests the reality of those who arrive at the gate. In contrast, the Princess with her magnifying glass represents the internal gaze. She is the Seeker, looking past the twenty mattresses of comfort to identify the "pea" of truth. Together, they represent the tension between being tested by the world and investigating one’s own reality. -
The Catalysts: Growth in Discomfort
Look for the chrysalis and the pea shoot. In nature, both represent a period of intense, often "uncomfortable" transformation. The chrysalis is the cramped, dark space where the old self dissolves; the pea shoot represents the force that must crack through the earth to reach the light. They remind us that the "pea" under the mattress isn’t just an irritant—it is a seed. -
Our Feline Masters of Indulgence
These 14 cats scattered throughout the puzzle are your companions in the process. Some are in states of total "indulgence" (rest), while others are in "active play" (action). They mirror the puzzle-solving experience itself: the shift between the quiet contemplation of a pattern and the sudden pounce on a once-lost, now-found piece. -
The Tools of Truth: The Quill and Ink Pot
Once the pea is found and the "real need" is identified, it must be claimed. The quill and ink pot symbolize the act of recording your findings. Like the pea being placed in the museum at the end of the fable, these tools represent the moment we turn our private struggles into shared wisdom, documenting the "true story" of our own growth.
Whimsy List
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14 cats
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butterfly
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chrysalis
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crown
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quill and ink pot
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princess with magnifying glass
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queen with sceptre
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pea shoot
Alternate Solutions (Hidden Whimwhams)
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3 peas in a pea pod
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41-piece cat tree structure
