I actually like it mirror-less much better.
Flea Market finds are unimaginable treasures.
When I walked by this frame at Haifa's flea market it had my name on it.
I couldn`t resist getting it.
After some bargaining (granted...) I paid around $4.00 and took it home with a smile.
It was grungy, maybe even more like real sticky-filthy, so I gave it an initial scrape outside with a metal brush and then a good soapy scrap in my kitchen sink.
Say hello to Phoebe, she likes hanging out on this one.
After a thorough cleaning I gave it a coat of white primer
which gave it a complete new "face".
It developed a character and began taking a life of its own.
I decided to leave the ornaments originally glued on the frame, weaving mosaics around them.
Once primed and ready for work, it was time to take out beads,
glass, tiles, jewels, buttons and pretty much all art supply and play.
I did not have an initial idea as far as how I would like this piece to look like.
I just played with material, shapes and colors and then began putting things together. A constant dance of colors and shapes arranged and re-arranged.
Piece by piece, bead by bead, from red to purple and back.
The work takes on its own life.
It makes the work a lot "easier" when you have a loyal helper and a thief of beads.
Phoebe is a beginner mosaicist.
Every time I add a "section",meaning a line of beads, a row of cubed glass, etc,
I`d put the work on my table and take a good look from a few feet away.
That helped me decide what should come on next.
Choices, choices... a constant play of colors and material.
Progress!
When I work on a 3D piece I keep circling it while planning the next piece,
the next row, the next color to add.
Viewing it 360 degrees helps me contain the piece as whole,
as well as individual, various sections of it, combining it all together as one.
This particular piece took me a few good months to complete.
A residential move and a couple of other waiting-to-be-finished pieces in between kept me looking at a half finished frame for weeks without actually working on it.
Then one day it was done, yet not finished.
I decided against mosaic on the drawer.
It felt like it`d be too much.
It was time to grout, seal and continue.
Looking at it from afar for days after it was grouted I decided
the drawer - as the work's foundation, called for a different texture and funky, bright, standing-out colors.
I used acrylic paints.
The inside was painted deep red/crimson.
The outside was painted with orange/purple checkers
and a deep purple contour in between.
The original ornament on the drawer turned copper.
Done.
I love it on a purple background.
Probably would look good with a Goddess hanging in the middle.
