#MID CENTURY OWL BOOKENDS HOW TO#
#MID CENTURY OWL BOOKENDS TV#

I painted in layers adding streaks of darker and lighter color damping down with a paper towel to soften the effect and using a clean wet brush to feather it in places instead of splashing on water as was seen on the video. I experimented with a mix of Cadmium red, Burnt Umber and Yellow Ochre tinted with white for the base following the Youtube video for guidance.

In retrospect I would have done a test piece first but I just went ahead knowing I could wipe it off at any point or just paint extra layers on top.

#MID CENTURY OWL BOOKENDS HOW TO#

I found a video on Youtube which gave me an idea of how to proceed. Up to this point the work has been straightforward but the unsightly green speckled base needs a faux marble paint over which is something I have never done before. Here we see the source bookend in the center with the Borghese pair on either side. I had no black paint so I mixed some raw umber with ultramarine to create a vintage looking black. The final touch was black for the pupils. The color was a good match straight from the tube so no color mixing was needed. I used Windsor & Newton Galleria acrylic paints, Yellow Ochre, Raw Umber and Phthalo Green for the Owl. First I painted the eyes in Yellow Ochre and then two coats of Raw Umber for the rest of the bird with extra touches to darken the forehead area and top of the head and back as needed to match the owl on the right.įor the book it took two layers of green and then a watered down layer of raw umber on top of that to tone down the color of the green and to darken the gold pages. The Borghese bookend appears to be a resin copy of the original design on the right which is a cold painted metal/bronze owl on a marble base. The picture above shows a Borghese bookend on the left and on the right a bookend like the one in Ricardo’s living room on the show which I will refer to as a source to replicate the paintwork and then attempt to apply a marble effect on the base. Here is my attempt at repainting a pair of Borghese owl bookends to resemble the owl bookends seen on the I Love Lucy show.

#MID CENTURY OWL BOOKENDS TV#

I also spotted this TV lamp with plume design similar to one seen on the I Love Lucy set It was recently sold on eBay however this was the first time I have seen one with a maker mark by Stewart B McCulloch who also made the pair of asian man and woman mantel statues ashtray Borghese book ends framed prints maurice utrillo owl book ends owl bookends Stewart B McCulloch tv lamp wall plates

The above items are currently on eBay at the time of writing. This ashtray matches one on I Love LucyĪ similar small ashtray was later seen on a small side table next to an armchair to the left of the Hollywood apartment set.Īlso on offer is a pair of owl bookends like the bookends I repainted to match the pair on I Love lucy in a previous project: Owl Bookends Seen on eBay

There were a pair of these each side of three larger ones. Next is a hard to find small Gouda ashtray that matched one used as a small wall plate in the I Love Lucy kitchen. This one for sale has some damage so read the sellers description for details. Utrillo print as seen on I Love Lucy Utrillo print on I Love LucyĬurrently on eBay is this vintage Maurice Utrillo print matching the well-known framed picture in the living room of the I Love Lucy set.

Mid century owl bookends