I was hunting for the Christmas tree lights in the attic. Naturally, I kept finding other things of interest which slowed me down. One was an old convex mirror – the memories flooded back! An attentive boyfriend had given me the mirror while I was writing a particularly difficult essay about Jan Van Eycks painting, The Arnolfini Wedding (1434) which famously has a convex mirror in the background. The picture commemorates a wedding and that’s about all I can say about it with certainty as the painting is a visual rabbit hole! Years later I married someone else and it seemed a little insensitive to hang the mirror in our ‘newly-wed house’ so it disappeared into the attic.

Picture: Jo Green

Cut to 25 years later! In the winter with drab, no let me say refined, green walls in the living room it can look a bit dull. Inspired by the round convex mirror I decided to take the pictures down and brighten the corner up. Mirrors create an illusion of a larger space and create more light, especially if positioned near a window or other light source.

Apparently, round mirrors can soften an area which is decorated with hard edges. The convex mirror distorts reflections and I rather like that as it appeals to the Science Fantasy side of me, seems like an object Philip Pullman would write about.
Turns out my sons and husband love it too as it reminds them of the portholes from our long-ago cruises!

Words and pics by Jo Green, a former allotmenteer, forager, amateur herbalist, pickler and jam maker who squeezed her allotment greenery into her tiny garden.