This post shows the development of a recently completed unique mirror - Ghirlandaio (Portrait of a Girl). The starting point was a postcard of a mirror image of the painting in the National Gallery, London - then colour samples were placed next to the image to get a feel for the overall palette. 

Next, following some inital sketches, the mirror frame was constructed in beech wood incorporating three of the postcards and painted cardboard panels to represent the final glazed versions. After rejecting a horizontal reading, the images were arranged vertically. This layout is a reference to the Medici Princess boxes by Joseph Cornell, though they also have a contemporary  photo booth quality which also reminded me of Warhol. 

Various colourways were tried and rejected for the facing on the frame and the glass panels. Finally the painted mirror frame become a sub-frame with the addition of a stained oak outer frame. This, with the corner details provided the finishing touch.

This mirror is now available to purchase though IAP Fine Art, based in London and Monmouth. Our own webpage is here.

This is a new set of multi-part mirrors and panels inspired by The Ru Ware Project, a set of nine paintings executed between 2007-2012 by Brice Marden. The title derives from Marden's experience of viewing an exhibition of the famously scarce Ru Ware ceramics in Taipei. These ceramics were made in China for a short period around 1100 and were highly prized then and now. Marden was intrigued by the colour shifts he witnessed and on his return to the USA he sought to capture his impression from memory. 

While Marden's work is dislayed in a horizontal line, the mirrors and panels can be arranged in a multitude of ways using the full nine units or fewer and they can also be rearranged as desired. The slides show three completed units, a detail and test samples. The panels have been hand painted using the lovely chalky paint from Edward Bulmer. The colours used in the first photograph are Aquatic and Vert de Mer - these and the other colours are very similar to the colours Marden used in his set of paintings.

​As a point of interest there are twenty-one of these pieces in Taipei, however the British Museum has seventeen, including those in the Percival David Collection. Fewer than one hundred of these ceramics are known to have survived. 

We have just started working on a commission for a bedroom in a London house. It is a shelf mirror made to a specific size, namely 780 x 530mm, and the oak will be tinted to match a vintage wardrobe in the room. Rather than our standard mitre joint this mirror will feature lap joints at the top to echo the doors of the wardrobe.
The requested shelf depth will be 100mm and will feature a detachable oak veneer insert. As with the laminate and metal inserts, should the owner wish to change the appearance of the shelf at some future point in time the oak insert may be swapped for another to achieve an entirely different look. The photographs show a test lap joint in unstained American white oak, a detail of the wardrobe and our standard shelf mirror with a blue laminate insert.