First Night Design | Emerald Arches #Art

Emerald Arches © Sarah Vernon

Emerald Arches came about when I was playing around with a makeover for Stephen King’s novel Green Mile. One particular blending of an image and a background, the former discarded as far as Green Mile was concerned, shrieked at me to be recreated as my next art piece. The photograph is a painting from 1842 by Jules Victor Genisson on Wikimedia  of the interior of Amiens Cathedral.  Blending it in ‘overlay’ mode via Photoshop with 2 Lil’ Owls texture 2LO Distressed 7 made my heart leap!

I wanted to bring out the edges as if the original had been an architectural drawing with a colour wash. This I achieved by adjusting the brightness and contrast and sharpening the edges until I was satisfied. I could have used Photoshop’s rendering tool on a duplicate layer but this is never satisfactory as it always looks unnatural and manufactured rather than actually drawn by hand.

Amiens

Like so many towns in Northern France, Amiens is, for me, inextricably linked with The Great War. The Battle of Amiens — also known as the Third Battle of Picardy — took place ninety-seven years ago this month and was the one  that would eventually lead to Germany signing the Armistice. The town also suffered during the Second World War and was occupied several times by both the Allies and the Axis powers. Perhaps if I had ever visited Amiens, I would associate it with something else, not least the 13th century cathedral — a World Heritage site — which is clearly an exquisite example of Gothic architecture, and the town’s renowned macaroons.

Gare du Nord (old postcard published by Caron No. 328, postmarked in 1909).

Emerald Arches Greeting Card

Emerald Arches Duvet Cover © Sarah Vernon

Available at the following galleries:
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Zazzle US
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Fine Art America
Fine Art England
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!