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!

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!

Museum Dedicated to Camille Claudel Opens in France | artnet News

The exterior of the Musée Camille Claudel. Photo by Marco Illuminati, courtesy the museum.

A museum dedicated to Camille Claudel has opened, giving recognition to the artist who worked in the “Golden Age of French sculpture.”

Source: Museum Dedicated to Camille Claudel Opens in France | artnet News

Why Did Medieval Artists Give Elephants Trunks That Look Like Trumpets? | Atlas Obscura

Elephants in a 13th-century manuscript. THE BRITISH LIBRARY/ROYAL 12 F XIII

The animals in the image above are elephants. They were drawn sometime around the 13th or 14th century in a medieval bestiary, a type of book that described animals large and small, real and fantastic. But to a modern eye, the line between the real and the imagined is…

Source: Why Did Medieval Artists Give Elephants Trunks That Look Like Trumpets? | Atlas Obscura

Happy 176th Birthday Claude Monet – Waldina

Today is the 176th birthday of the artist Claude Monet. We know his work and I can speak only for myself of not knowing his whole life story. The world is a better place because he was in it and st…

Source: Happy 176th Birthday Claude Monet – Waldina

Winnie-the-Pooh: The Forgotten Connection | jamesosbornenovels

With thanks to Olga for posting the link on Facebook and to James Osborne for writing it.

Special thanks to CBC Radio for an interview that resurrected this little-known story about the origins of Winnie-the-Pooh. Here’s a summary.    Winnie-the-Pooh was born in Canada! Well, sort of. I…

Source: Winnie-the-Pooh: The Forgotten Connection | jamesosbornenovels

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | One Scarf Walks Out #Scarves

I can’t quite believe it. I posted Made for Walking yesterday morning and by midday I’d sold a Redbubble scarf!

Made for Walking Scarves © Sarah Vernon @ Redbubble

Have a beautiful Tuesday!

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 | Made for Walking #Art

Made for Walking Framed Prints © Sarah Vernon at Fine Art America

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“The stiletto is a feminine weapon that men just don’t have.”
― Christian Louboutin

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Made for Walking Scarves © Sarah Vernon @ Redbubble

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“What do women want? Shoes.”
― Mimi Pond

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Made for Walking Greeting Card by FirstNightDesign

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“Shit happens. Doesn’t mean you have to step in it. But if you do I would buy a new pair of shoes.”
― Kilburn Hall

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Made for Walking Wrist Watch by FirstNightDesign

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“Don’t judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins.” Native American saying

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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!

Long-Lost Caravaggio Possibly Found in France – artnet News

Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes (circa 1598-1599). Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

The long-lost second version of Caravaggio’s “Judith Beheading Holofernes” might have emerged in a private collection in France. But is it the real deal?

Source: Long-Lost Caravaggio Possibly Found in France – artnet News

Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1900s)

Colette, 1900s via theredlist.com

Source: Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette (1900s)

First Night Design | The Windmill #Art

This is an extremely early piece when I was only just beginning to realise what textures could do for a photograph. The windmill, from Wikimedia, is on the Île de Noirmoutier, an island that lies off the coast of France, and I used a filter from Snap Art, one of my background textures, and one from Skeletal Mess.

Buy The Windmill © Sarah Vernon [Crated]

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Windmill or no windmill, he said, life would go on as it had always gone on–that is, badly. Animal Farm by George Orwell

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The Windmill 3 Ring Binder

The Windmill Pack Of Standard Business Cards
The Windmill Postage

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

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Did you know that Henri Rousseau…

Luxembourg Gardens. Monument to Chopin by Henri Rousseau

Did you know that the self-taught artist Henri Rousseau never left France and thus never saw a real jungle? No, neither did I.

‘For many years derided as a wacky amateur, Rousseau made his debut at the Salon des Indépendants with his work Carnival Evening (1886), a surprising start to his future career as an artist.’ ArtLark

La muse inspirant le poète

‘Rousseau will never be remembered for exceptional talent or skill, yet his wild imagination gave birth to wonderfully individual images which can instantly be associated with his name – a name which he signed with large, awkward letters at the corner of each painting.’ ArtLark

La Charmeuse de serpents

Take care and keep laughing!

Life on La Lune French Christmas Quiz 2014

Happy Boxing Day!

Life on La Lune

A very Happy Christmas to all my readers

Mistletoe – abundant in our area

Here’s something to stretch your brain cells once you’ve stretched your waistbands: the annual Life on La Lune Christmas Quiz. Twenty questions about French history, literature, gastronomy, language, etc. with multiple choice answers.

View original post 655 more words

Great Uncle Norman: ‘shot by a single sniper’

Captain Norman Austin Taylor © Sarah Vernon

‘Five foot ten of a beautiful young Englishman under French soil. Never a joke, never a look, never a word more to add to my store of memories. The book is shut up forever and as the years pass I shall remember less and less, till he becomes a vague personality; a stereotyped photograph.’

Poor Norman.

Such a commonplace death.  Shot by a single sniper. Youngest child, only son.  Three sisters and a father left to grieve along with so many other fathers, mothers, sisters…

Continue reading: Great Uncle Norman: ‘shot by a single sniper’ | First Night Design.

First Night Design | Leaving the Opera in the Year 2000, as depicted in 1882

Leaving the Opera in the Year 2000 © First Night Vintage

This charming curiosity dates from 1882 and is the work of French illustrator, Albert Robida (1848-1926).  I could not resist the idea of selling it in my vintage store and downloaded it from The Library of Congress.

There was a crease down the middle with a tear at the bottom, which I restored.

Albert Robida (1848-1926)

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‘A print from around 1882 depicting a futuristic view of air travel over Paris as people leave the opera. Many types of aircraft are shown including flying buses, limousines and, what are presumably, police vehicles. On the latter are mounted strangely un-futuristic sword-carrying officers that wouldn’t seem out-of-place on the Opera’s stage itself. As far as the get-up of the normal opera-going folk, things don’t seem to have progressed too radically, though many of the men seem to be sporting the same bizarre military-esque hat. To the left of the scene, amongst the flying vehicles, we can see a restaurant, which like the Opera building itself, is elevated to an enormous height above the vaguely discernible city below. In the distance we can make out the Eiffel Tower, which seems to have some enormous structure emerging from its top about which buzz more flying vehicles. One other interesting thing to note is that women can be seen driving their own aircraft.

The print is the creation of the French illustrator, etcher, lithographer, caricaturist, novelist, and all around futurologist, Albert Robida. Editor and publisher of La Caricature magazine for 12 years, Robida also wrote an acclaimed trilogy of futuristic novels imagining what life would be like in the 20th century. He foretells many inventions in his writings, including the “Téléphonoscope”: a flat screen television display that delivered the latest news 24-hours a day, the latest plays, courses, and teleconferences.’

via The Public Domain

Take care and keep laughing!