“Clowns of the Sea” Greeting Cards by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble #Sold!

Features / Creation 24 April 2016 / Digital Collage in Photoshop. Puffins: ‘Nicknamed ’sea parrots’ – and sometimes ‘clowns of the sea’! – Atlantic puffins have black and white feathers and a large parrot-like beak. They are small seabirds measuring around 25cm in length.’ / 2 Lil’ Owls – 2LO~French Script antique papers 2-13. / Puffin – Biodiversity Library. / Flora – Biodiversity Library. • Also buy this artwork on stationery, apparel, stickers, and more.

Source: “Clowns of the Sea” Greeting Cards by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

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Portrait of a Woman in Black by Sir John Lavery Postcard | Zazzle #Sold!

The Belfast-born, Glasgow-educated artist Sir John Lavery (1856-1941) was superficially similar to his contemporary, John Singer Sargent. Along with Sargent and James McNeill Whistler, Lavery was one of the most sought-after portraitists of his day. His reputation was assured after he was asked to paint the state visit of Queen Victoria to Glasgow. He went on to paint many famous contemporaries such as Winston Churchill and Anna Pavlova. In 1917, during the First World War, he was appointed Official War Artist. Portrait of a Woman in Black Leaning on a Grand Piano was painted in 1904. His sitter was Miss Elizabeth Welsh (1843–1921), Mistress of Girton College, Cambridge, between 1885 and 1903. The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art in Rome.

Source: Portrait of a Woman in Black by Sir John Lavery Postcard | Zazzle

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Taking Tea with Clara Butt T-Shirt | Zazzle #Sold!

Known as ‘The Voice of the Empire’ or ‘The Voice of the Century’, Dame Clara Butt (1872-1936) was born in Sussex and brought up in Bristol. She became one of the most famous and beloved of English recitalists and concert singers. A ‘booming’ contralto, she was remarkably imposing at 6′ 2″. Sheet music, tea tray and piano from The Graphics Fairy. Other sheet music from DigitalCollageImages on Flickr. The flourish to the left is from VintageArtDownload.com and the vintage postcard of Clara Butt is in my own collection.

Source: Taking Tea with Clara Butt T-Shirt | Zazzle

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#Valentine Seahorses Coffee Mug Set | Zazzle

Style: Coffee Mug Set

It’s a match made in heaven for this lovers’ mug set! Made to perfectly fit together, this ceramic mug set is a great gift for a wedding, anniversary, Valentine’s Day, Sweetest Day, or any other special occasion. The heart-shaped handles on each mug add an extra touch of love to this already very romantic gift! Customize with your pictures, photos, and text to make a one-of-a-kind mug set that will be cherished for years.

• 8-ounce capacity
• Dimension: 3.8”h x 3.2”diameter
• 100% ceramic construction
• Meets or exceeds FDA requirements for food and beverage safety
• Printed on demand by the Photo USA team in Fremont, California

Source: Valentine Seahorses Coffee Mug Set | Zazzle

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Clowns Of The Sea Duvet Cover for Sale by Sarah Vernon

Clowns Of The Sea Duvet Cover by Sarah Vernon. Available in king, queen, full, and twin. Our soft microfiber duvet covers are hand sewn and include a hidden zipper for easy washing and assembly. Your selected image is printed on the top surface with a soft white surface underneath. All duvet covers are machine washable with cold water and a mild detergent.

Source: Clowns Of The Sea Duvet Cover for Sale by Sarah Vernon

P.S. Wisdom tooth removal today. Ha!

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“The Lookout” Framed Prints by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

Sight update: I’m seeing the ophthalmologist at 9:30 am this morning!

Features / British Artists 30 March 2015 / The Group-Gallery of Art & Photography 13 March 2015 / Photoshop / Photograph by Fré Sonneveld at Unsplash / Textures from 2 Lil’ Owls /

DOVER BEACH — MATTHEW ARNOLD [1822-1888]

The sea is calm tonight. / The tide is full, the moon lies fair / Upon the straits; on the French coast the light / Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, / Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. / Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! / Only, from the long line of spray / Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, / Listen! you hear the grating roar / Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, / At their return, up the high strand, / Begin, and cease, and then again begin, / With tremulous cadence slow, and bring / The eternal note of sadness in. / Sophocles long ago / Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought / Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow / Of human misery; we / Find also in the sound a thought, / Hearing it by this distant northern sea. / The Sea of Faith / Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore / Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. / But now I only hear / Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, / Retreating, to the breath / Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear / And naked shingles of the world. / Ah, love, let us be true / To one another! for the world, which seems / To lie before us like a land of dreams, / So various, so beautiful, so new, / Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, / Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; / And we are here as on a darkling plain / Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, / Where ignorant armies clash by night. • Also buy this artwork on wall prints, apparel, kids clothes, and more.

Source: “The Lookout” Framed Prints by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

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Hark the Herald Medium Gift Bag | Zazzle

Add a special touch to any present with a customizable gift bag. Made with premium quality paper and ready to use for any occasion. Add your own beautiful designs, artwork, images, and even text for a personal gift bag for friends, family, customers or clients.

• Dimensions: 7” l x 4.5” w x 10” h
• Made with premium quality paper for extra durability
• Choice of matte or glossy finish
• Available in 3 additional sizes

Source: Hark the Herald Medium Gift Bag | Zazzle

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Artful Pumpkins Thanksgiving Paper Napkin | Zazzle

Source: Artful Pumpkins Thanksgiving Paper Napkin | Zazzle

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First Night Design | Gravestone Hell #Halloween

FROM THE ARCHIVE 18th October 2014

My own textures and photographs, along with some Photoshop brushes, went into creating this image which, you will not be surprised to learn, is geared for…

Source: First Night Design | Gravestone Hell #Halloween | First Night Design

First Night Design | Tallulah Bankhead — “pure as the driven slush” #Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE 15th August 2014

New in my vintage store is this wonderful black & white portrait of Tallulah Bankhead. “I’m as pure as the driven slush.” “My father warned me about men and booze, but h…

Source: First Night Design | Tallulah Bankhead — “pure as the driven slush” | First Night Design

First Night Design | The Lookout #Art #Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE 14th March 2014

Photograph by Fré Sonneveld from Unsplash. Textures 2 Lil’ Owls.

Dover Beach — Matthew Arnold [1822-1888]

The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the Fr…

Source: First Night Design | The Lookout | First Night Design

First Night Design | Clowns of the Sea #Art

Clowns of the Sea © Sarah Vernon at Crated

2 Lil’ Owls – 2LO~French Script antique papers 2-13.
Puffin – Biodiversity Library.
Flora & Fauna – Biodiversity Library.

A few tidbits from National Geographic:

1. Nicknamed ‘sea parrots‘ – and sometimes ‘clowns of the sea‘! – Atlantic puffins have black and white feathers and a large parrot-like beak. They are small seabirds measuring around 25cm in length.

2. Puffins spend most of their lives out at sea, resting on the waves when not swimming. Their range spans the eastern coast of Canada and the United States to the western coast of Europe.

3. A puffin’s beak (or bill) changes colour during the year. In winter, the beak has a dull grey colour, but in spring it blooms with an outrageous orange! It’s thought that the bright colour helps puffins assess potential mates.

4. Puffins are carnivores and live off small fish such as herring, hake and sand eels.

5. Puffins are fab flyers, flapping their wings up to 400 times a minute and speeding through the air at up to 88km an hour…

Available at the following galleries:
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Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

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First Night Design | Shadow Deer #Art

Shadow Deer © Sarah Vernon Greeting Cards

I was profoundly moved recently to read about the carbon ‘imprint’ of a man who had been sitting on the stone steps outside the Sumitomo bank in Hiroshima when the bomb fell at 8.15am on 6th August 1945.

The ‘shadow’ left by his body was visible for many years until time and weather all but erased it. “Receiving the rays directly, the victim must have died on the spot from massive burns. The surface of the surrounding stone steps was turned whitish by the intense heat rays. The place where the person was sitting became dark like a shadow.” Google Cultural Institute

When the new bank was built, the steps were taken to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum and an etching of the ‘shadow’ was created in memory of that fateful day when so many lives were ruined or — depending on your point of view — many more were potentially saved.

Shadow Deer © Sarah Vernon – Samsung Galaxy Cases & Skins

Whether this happenstance was in my subconscious when I decided to do something with Paul Earle’s photograph of deer in Bushy Park, Hampton (near London), I cannot say. If you like to ‘read’ things into other people’s work, you might say it’s my stand against the destruction of nature and wildlife where the planet will soon be a world of just such shadows.

My tongue is slightly in my cheek because I’m always amused by the things the critics read into the work they’re discussing and the ideas they attribute to the creator. I can just imagine the said artist or writer looking down from above and pooh-poohing the symbolism being expounded. “Oh, don’t be ridiculous — I wasn’t thinking anything of the kind!”

Shadow Deer © Sarah Vernon Throw Pillows

The deer in Earle’s original photograph are already in silhouette but putting the image in Linear Burn mode over the Ancient times 20 texture by 2 Lil’ Owls has increased the effect and given the image a rich, vibrant hue that you could say portends future atomic destruction!

Shadow Deer Flasks by FirstNightDesign

Available at the following galleries:
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Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
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First Night Design | “My arms are too long!” #Art

Woman in Black © Sarah Vernon

I’ve called my latest piece Woman in Black, not because she is dressed in black, but because the scene I’ve created reminds me of Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black. If you’ve only ever seen the stage adaptation (still running in London at the Fortune Theatre), I strongly recommend reading the book: it is genuinely intriguing, frightening and mysterious.

The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill

Yet again, I’ve used the Chinese print from the Library of Congress at Flickr and blended it once more with the Beguiling-18 texture from 2 Lil’ Owls. The costumed lady (Ida Rubinstein) by Ballet Russes artist Léon Bakst is from Wikimedia.

Woman in Black Greeting Card

The title of this post is because Mr FND said he thought woman’s arms were unusually long and that reminded me of absurdist playwright NF Simpson’s play, One Way Pendulum, in which one of the characters keeps complaining that her arms are too long! If you’re interested in learning more about Simpson, click here for a reblog from The Guardian on Rogues & Vagabonds which I was prompted to post by writing about Simpson here.

Available at the following galleries:
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Fine Art America
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First Night Design | Marrakesh — ‘Arabian, African, and European influences’

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‘The confluence of perhaps the most exotic cultures in the world exist right here in this pink city. Arabian, African, and European influences are found in the streets, its inhabitants, and its monuments.’ Sensational Colour

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Marrakesh Arches Greeting Cards

I went to Morocco in 1986. A week in Agadir was not the delight my then boyfriend and I had hoped. The sky was grey, the beach was grey, and the sights were grey. We hadn’t realised that the earthquake of 1960 had destroyed so much. According to BBC News, it was the deadliest in Moroccan history.

The rebuilding was typical 1960s fare and depressing beyond belief.  Marrakesh, however, proved to be a highlight and we spent two days and nights taking in the lemons, pinks and ochres of the buildings and the souks, and bought endless supplies of saffron. We also tried to sell my chap’s wilful, spoilt and selfish daughter for a couple of camels. The Arabs didn’t want to endure her temper tantrums any more than I did. Shame!

Marrakesh Arches Business Cards

Marrakesh Arches Tie No 2 Custom Ties

Marrakesh Arches Throw Pillows

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