Gesso mirror and snow...

We've had quite a dumping of snow here in Hertfordshire and my daughter had the day off school today as a result. Blogland is full of stunning snow pictures. Until now.

Sorry. It didn't stop snowing at all yesterday which made for very grey pictures. And I took two pictures and then the camera battery died.

Husband and daughter taking the car boot sale vintage sledge for a spin. It gives a very smooth ride and is infinitely better than our red plastic version. Vintage is best! But we knew that already didn't we?

 

Our snowman with weird orange eyes. Usually I get all competitive with our snowmen and have to do the biggest and best in the street. (Which isn't hard as we live in an area populated by the elderly!) But I just wasn't feeling it yesterday and building him was a chore. Look he's not even got a scarf! Shoddy.

So, onto indoor pursuits which are much more me!

The brass mirror? I always meant to paint it. I probably would have used spray paint at some point but I decided to try the gesso treatment.

Before

I used a lot less gesso this time...

 

After. Yes the glass is still broken! Er, and could do with a clean!

I'm liking it. It looks more expensive I think. I used dark wax over the gesso again as the chalky white finish does nothing for me.
I realise I have broken my new years resolution. Poor photography and styling in this post. I should have fixed the glass but I didn't fancy the half hour walk to the glass place in the snow.

Snow just ruins everything.

Let me just show you what I found in a charity shop this week...

Crazy high heeled wellies! Just need this treacherous snow to be replaced by some rain so I can take them for a test drive without breaking my neck.

Hope you are warm and cosy wherever you are!

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Painting with gesso...

I first used gesso around 15 years ago to try and restore an old frame. It was something I had to mix from rabbit skin glue and chalk if I remember rightly. The frame turned out quite rubbish anyhow and I never went down that road again!

More recently I have stumbled accross the wonderful work of Rosemary at Villabarnes and been intrigued to see that she paints with gesso, which is now thankfully readymade and acrylic. (Perhaps it was back then but I was shopping in the wrong place!)

Rosemarys work

Rosemarys work

It seems to work well on heavily textured or carved items. She doesn't just use it on frames though. She used it on this bedside table...

Rosemarys work

And even on fabric flowers!

Rosemarys work

Isn't that beautiful?
I was so taken with this look that I had to have a go.
On my wall I had this old picture...

  I pulled it all apart and painted the frame with grey emulsion...

Then I painted it in white acrylic gesso (it also comes in grey and black.)

 

£3.99 from the art shop

I was painting it on and wiping it off so it settles in the dips but wipes off the high bits. I did 3 coats. This was too much! It just looked very white when it dried. I took a sanding sponge to it and it wasn't easy to sand back but I got a bit of the original colour and the gold showing through. I thought I'd ruined it to be honest so I didn't get a picture of this stage. The whiteness was annoying me! I missed the original finish so I thought I'd stipple on dark wax to bring back some depth.

The whole thing came back to life and I love it!

What do you think? I know mine turned out nothing like Rosemarys! I like it, but I liked it before too. I'm going to play around some more with gesso! Next time I'll have to paint it on something I'm not so keen on.

If you pop over to Villabarnes there are lots of tutorials with gesso and you can see Rosemarys lovely work.

Next up for the gesso treatment?

 

This vintage brass mirror my husband dropped. Good job we're not superstitious! His only bad luck is that he has to replace the glass for me! 

Big thank you to Rosemary for allowing me to use her photos! 

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