Five Mirrors Down, One To Go

Copper, Orange, Gold Mirror. 24" x 28" Mirror and Van Gogh glass.

Yes, still at it! This is the fifth frame I have mosaicked while keeping Lucy company in the kitchen as she recovers from her ACL surgery. She is doing well but still not ready to have an unsupervised run of the house, much less be up in my studio on the slick laminate floor. So, another few weeks in the kitchen for me. I just can't bear to keep her in her indoor pen for very long during the day, if I can avoid it.

Neither of these photos is terribly good, but together they give an idea of how #5 turned out. (I may have to take these mirrors in for professional photographing as I believe that they are beyond my skill level.) I had a 20" x 16" beveled mirror in a closet, with a rather unfortunate frame. So, off came the frame and on with this new one. Additionally, I've framed the mosaic frame in a black floater frame, like the previous four.

Another 30" x 22" beveled mirror from our old house, in a closet for about 20 years, will soon be acquiring its new frame. I will spend the next few weeks, as Lucy continues her recovery, on the largest frame of the six, measuring 37" x 29". I've already started it, using a neutral palette of bronze, silver, gray, and black. 

Mirror, Mirror—Mirror Mirror

Clockwise from top: Blue, Yellow, Turquoise 14" x 17.5; Grays with Blue 18" x 16"; Blue, Purple, Aqua 16" x 21"; Red, Rose, Bronze 21" x 17". Van Gogh and mirror glass.

I've finished those four frames that I had—mosaicked them, installed beveled mirrors, and then framed them in floater frames. I'm satisfied with my efforts.

I photographed them today, and I was sorry that my cool photo studio was not as helpful as I would have liked it to be for these mirrors. The larger mirrors, in particular, were difficult. I did my best, but still had imbalanced lighting and reflection. They were not as sharp as I would like, especially the larger two, and especially the blue of the larger two. These will have to do for now. Maybe when the weather clears up, I will try outside.

I think that most of the difficulty is due to the glass tiles, and certainly the mirror tiles. I still have high hopes for photographing art pieces, and my results with the bottles were overall acceptable. 

Two more mirror frames to go! I had a couple of mirrors stored away, in frames that I did not like, so I removed them from their original decorative frames and decided to go ahead and make new frames for them while I am deep into this decorative phase. These are larger frames with 4" surface to mosaic, versus the 2" of the above frames. Maybe by the time Lucy's knee is healed, I will be finished with these two mirrors. 

 

Other People's Work

Last week, I put the final touches on my studio wing and finished placing pieces of my very small collection of other people's mosaics. Take a look!

Entering my studio, you can see my Brooks Tower and Irit Levy flanking the entry on right and left, respectively, and the little yellow Ilona Fried on the near right.

I Gave You Latham, by Brooks Tower.

This Irit Levy piece may have a title but it is not on the back of it, and I don't remember as I acquired this several years ago. It may be called Nude or something like that. 

This Irit Levy piece may have a title but it is not on the back of it, and I don't remember as I acquired this several years ago. It may be called Nude or something like that. 

This little yellow cutie is by Ilona Fried, and is also without title.

My Sophie Drouin, the work on the right, is titled Red Tide.

And here is a small grouping: Upper right is by Wendy Raven and is without title; lower right is Pam Givens' Bloom Where You Are #5; lower left is Jeannot Leenan's pretty blue pansy, also without title; upper left are by Heidi Easton-Pichler (in the back) and the little J mosaic is by Kathy Thaden.