Beautiful Bones

It was the shape that stopped me. The sweeping curves, the ornate details, the sense that someone had put real thought into its design. It had beautiful bones.

A local woman was giving this mirror away for free and I had to have it. I saw an opportunity to turn it into a piece of art.

The restoration itself was far less glamorous than the finished result suggests.

The mirror was in remarkably good condition - no sanding or major repairs needed. In theory, I could have finished it in an afternoon with a few cans of spray paint. But that didn't feel right.

This mirror was going to become a focal point in my daughter's room. I wanted to take my time with it. So over the course of several months, I painted every curve and contour by hand.

The process was tedious. The ornate details that had attracted me to the mirror in the first place became the very thing that slowed me down. Even with a small brush, reaching every crevice felt impossible some days. There were setbacks, too. One particularly hot afternoon, the plastic drop cloth fused itself to the back of the frame, leaving me with the unenviable task of peeling it away piece by piece.

Progress came slowly. And yet, I never considered taking the shortcut. The mirror is finished now, though it hasn't made its way onto the wall yet. I can't help but feel a sense of pride and accomplishment. Taking a forgotten object and transforming it is at the core of my art practice.

The beauty was already there. It just needed time.