First Night Design | Harbour Parasols #Art #New

You have no idea just how peachy it has been to create a piece of art with my new vision after spending so many months re-blogging earlier pieces and promoting those which have sold. My heart and soul are leaping with joy. Just as well in view of the unconscionable state prevailing in the UK after a general election. I am reminded of my favourite quote from erstwhile US President Jimmy Carter (and there are many to choose from) which says it all when one thinks of Prime Minister Theresa May’s parentage: the daughter of a vicar no less. “If you don’t want your tax dollars to help the poor, then stop saying you want a country based on Christian values because you don’t.’

Harbour Parasols Framed Prints © Sarah Vernon [Redbubble]

The original is a photochrom from the Library of Congress of the entrance to the harbour at St. Malo in France taken between 1890 and 1900. I duplicated the image, ran the jpg through the Topaz Impressions Abstraction II filter, which I added as a third layer before topping with one of my yellow textures. I made use of a variety of Photoshop blends such as Darken, Lighter Colour and Screen.

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Crated
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfilment centres in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

Botanical Fruit Postcard | Zazzle #Sold!

Orientation: Postcard

• Dimensions: 4.25″ x 5.6″ (portrait) or 5.6″ x 4.25″ (landscape)
• Full color CMYK print process
• Double sided printing for no additional cost
• Postage rate: $0.34

Paper Type: Matte

The most popular paper choice, Matte’s eggshell texture is soft to the touch with a smooth finish that provides the perfect backdrop for your chosen designs.

• Light white, uncoated matte finish with an eggshell texture
• Paper is easy to write on and won’t smudge
• Made and printed in the USA

Source: Botanical Fruit Postcard | Zazzle

N.B. I’m not currently responding to comments or visiting blogs because of ill-health but I much appreciate your support.

Take care and keep laughing!

The Divine Sarah Postcard | Zazzle

I’m feeling less than divine at the moment but I hope you enjoy this exquisite image of my namesake which you can buy as cards, postcards and posters.

The great French stage actress of the late 19th century, Sarah Bernhardt (1844-1923).

Orientation: Postcard

Create your own vacation-worthy postcards right here. Any view you’ve seen, any monument you’ve fallen in love with, can all be added to our postcards with our personalization tool. Craft touching, hand-written correspondence while on your next road trip!

• Dimensions: 4.25″ x 5.6″ (portrait) or 5.6″ x 4.25″ (landscape)
• Full colour CMYK print process
• Double sided printing for no additional cost
• Postage rate: $0.34

Paper Type: Matte

The most popular paper choice, Matte’s eggshell texture is soft to the touch with a smooth finish that provides the perfect backdrop for your chosen designs.

• Light white, uncoated matte finish with an eggshell texture
• Paper is easy to write on and won’t smudge
• Made and printed in the USA

Source: The Divine Sarah Postcard | Zazzle

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Rachel Strong by Léon Bakst 1924 #Cards #Prints | First Night Design

FROM THE ARCHIVE 28 August 2015

The Russian designer and painter Léon Bakst (1866–1924), born Lev Samuilovich Rozenberg, is more generally known for his luscious costume and set designs for Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes as witness S…

Source: First Night Design | Rachel Strong by Léon Bakst 1924 #Cards #Prints | First Night Design

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Behind Time #Art #Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE 15th September 2015

I adore clocks and watches and all things time-related, perhaps because I’m constantly trying to hold back time! I created two circular layers from the centre of the same Chinese print I used in Th…

Source: First Night Design | Behind Time #Art | First Night Design

First Night Design | And Don’t Forget the Garlic! #Repost #Art

FROM THE ARCHIVE 17th April 2015

I have to confess to an unwavering passion for narrow streets. The temptation to go exploring and, inevitably, to get hopelessly lost, is overpowering. This type of street is often laid with cobble…

Source: First Night Design | And Don’t Forget the Garlic! | First Night Design

First Night Design | 20% off everything. Use code CARPE20 — Redbubble

20% off everything. Use code CARPE20 — Redbubble

20% off everything. Use code CARPE20

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Alice is At It Again! #Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE 29th April 2015
This is the first of an occasional series highlighting Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland —  2015 marks 150 years since the book was…

Source: First Night Design | Alice is At It Again! #1 | 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 | Una Logia Privada #Art #Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE 21st September 2016

loggia |ˈləʊdʒə, ˈlɒ-, -dʒɪə| noun a gallery or room with one or more open sides, especially one that forms part of a house and has one side open to the garden. ORIGIN mid 18th cent.: from Italian,…

Source: First Night Design | Una Logia Privada #Art | First Night Design

First Night Design | Autumn Fall #Art

Autumn Fall © Sarah Vernon Prints, Cards, Phone Cases, Attire, Home Decor & more… at Redbubble

This is an early effort that dates back to heaven knows when!

Autumn Fall © Sarah Vernon Pouches at Redbubble

Autumn Fall © Sarah Vernon Mugs at Redbubble

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“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

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Autumn Fall © Sarah Vernon Spiral Notebooks at Redbubble

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“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
― Albert Camus

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Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Such a Cheeky Painting #Sold #Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE 4th November 2014

What fun to have sold a whacking great print of Gabrielle d’Estrees and one of her sisters on Fine Art America. It’s a delightfully cheeky oil painting; it’s a great shame the art…

Source: First Night Design | Such a Cheeky Painting #Sold

First Night Design | Sailing to the Moon #Art #Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE 25th July 2015

When I reblog my posts, I try to leave a decent gap and hope to catch more recent followers who have not seen a piece before or to garner a new audience for a very old post when hardly anyone was following. Sailing to the Moon received a huge amount of likes and comments. I haven’t checked the statistics but I suspect it’s one of the most popular posts on First Night Design — very pleasing. I’m re-blogging it because I love it and I have nothing else to show!

‘What can we gain by sailing to the moon if we are not able to cross the abyss that separates us from ourselves? This is the most important of all voyages of discovery, and without it, all th…

Source: First Night Design | Sailing to the Moon #Art | First Night Design

First Night Design | Fagin’s Den #Vintage #Art

Fagin’s Den © Sarah Vernon – Buy prints, cards & home decor from FAA

This is an old book-plate by Ernest Haslehurst of a public house called The Grapes at Limehouse (once The Bunch of Grapes) that I bought from collectors Vintage Views. It would be fun to think this Taylor Walker & Co pub was the inspiration for Dickens and Fagin’s den in Oliver Twist but it certainly makes me think of the narrow cobbled streets of Victorian London where pickpockets and other nefarious persons would ply their trade. It dates from the 16th century but the frontage is Victorian.

Although the original is in good nick, it has a faded quality even though it has not actually faded, so I added a duplicate layer in Overlay to bring out the colour and detail.

Fagin’s Den Drawstring Bag © Sarah Vernon @ Redbubble

Look closely — I can see Nancy on the balcony, and isn’t that Bill Sikes with his Staffy, Bullseye, coming up the ladder? And surely that’s Fagin himself at the curtain. Could this not, in fact, be the very place from which Sikes hanged himself?

The Grapes does have a connection to Dickens, however, since he knew that area of Limehouse well and probably based The Six Jolly Fellowship Porters in Our Mutual Friend on it.

From the research I’ve done, I learn that the lessees are actor Sir Ian McKellen, director Sean Mathias and Evening Standard owner, Evgeny Lebedev, the trio having bought the pub in 2011; it looks as if it’s a charming place to find some excellent beer and food. Let me know if you visit.

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Crated
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | The Sports Pavilion #Art

The Sports Pavilion © Sarah Vernon at Crated

The Sports Pavilion uses a photograph from a store called Clark Street Mercantile who have added what I assume to be their brochure photographs to that great free resource, Unsplash.

In the first instance I used Topaz Impressions’ chiaroscuro effect but I wanted something else. To this end I added 2LO Texture Artists 2 in the Multiply mode and enhanced the brightness and contrast. The image now appears to be a charmingly aged print of an old sports pavilion from, say, the 1920s or ’30s. Well, I like to think so!

The Sports Pavilion Tote Bags © Sarah Vernon at FAA

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Crated
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!