Playing with Mirrors and Crystals, Seashells and Sea Salt

When painting this rather classic style still life I used some very old and some modern techniques. 

A buzz about Camera Obscura   or Camera Lucida on how the Old Masters used all available and imaginable tools to achieve realism in their art, including the use of mirrors; all that and a bit curiosity inspired me to make one experiment. 

Usually, I use mirror when I estimate an almost complete artworks of mine. The reflection helps to "abstract" from the subject of countless hours of work and see it with the new eye.

But, yet, I have never painted the way I painted this still life.

It is known that painting crystals is not an easy task, especially looking closely at each sparkling edge that can mislead the artist's hand.

So, instead of painting from live still life, I used the mirror. From the very beginning, I've looked not at an object of my painting but into the mirror. And, I've painted the reflection: 

For the background I've used a modern technique by applying sea salt into wen-on-wet paint. After the salt dried, it created a beautiful texture that no brush can do:

At the very end I checked the accuracy of values by, again, using mirror's help: I've placed the painting upside-down and looked at the reflection, made a few additions until I was satisfied with the result:  

The Old Masters technique was quite fun to use and really helpful!