Newly-minted Alice: Collage | First Night Design

From the archive 19-11-13

Oh, what fun I have had creating this collage! It has been a while since I’ve experimented with my various pieces of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Alice’s Adventures Throug…

Source: Newly-minted Alice: Collage | First Night Design

Take care and keep laughing!

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First Night Design | Turning Windmill #Art

Buy Turning Windmill @ Sarah Vernon at Saatchi Art

Inspired by the work of J M W Turner, I created Turning Windmill (yes, the part-pun is intentional!) by using one of my textures, one from Kerstin Frank and a photograph of a windmill in Estonia from Wikimedia.

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

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Buy Turning Windmill Tile © Sarah Vernon at Zazzle

When I first posted about Turning Windmill in January 2014, I was not at all sure about it and had yet to upload the image to any of my galleries. But those of you who were following my blog at the time were enthusiastic and I went ahead and put it up for sale. I’ve become very fond of the image and am rather glad I left it as it is.

Buy Turning Windmill Service Tray © Sarah Vernon at Zazzle

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“This little piggy saved some water,
This little piggy biked for sun,
This little piggy used windmills,
This little piggy used sun,
And this little piggy squealed
‘Re-re-recycle!’
All the way home.”
― Jan Peck and David Davis illustrated by Carin Berger

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Take care and keep laughing!

 

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 | To see a fine lady upon a white horse

ONE FROM THE ARCHIVE.

First Night Design

To see a fine lady upon a white horse © First Night Design

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
She shall have music wherever she goes.
by Mother Goose

I used a background from Kerstin Frank, one from EKDuncan, and the image of a beautifully embroidered costume from the Rijksmuseum. The fine lady on her white horse is from a scrapbook made for me when I was a child.

Take care and keep laughing!

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First Night Design | Happy Accidents or Tennyson’s Manor

First Night Design

A couple of mornings ago I woke up with a scene in my mind’s eye and knew it was something I wanted to create.  I saw desert, night sky and camels.  I set to work last night.

Kerstin Frank & The Graphics Fairy

But I did not discover Kerstin‘s textures above till this morning and was convinced I could do something with two I already had.

So what happened, Sarah?

A happy accident. I put together two textures from Kerstin Frank that I had previously downloaded and experimented with blending.  It needed more work to create even half the background I had envisaged but I decided to add the camel from The Graphics Fairy and take it from there.  Yet I could not find the camel.  I knew it was on my computer but it was already past midnight and I didn’t have the energy to search properly nor…

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First Night Design | To see a fine lady upon a white horse

To see a fine lady upon a white horse © First Night Design

Ride a cock-horse to Banbury Cross,
To see a fine lady upon a white horse;
Rings on her fingers and bells on her toes,
She shall have music wherever she goes.
by Mother Goose

I used a background from Kerstin Frank, one from EKDuncan, and the image of a beautifully embroidered costume from the Rijksmuseum. The fine lady on her white horse is from a scrapbook made for me when I was a child.

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Shamrock Love for Ireland

Shamrock for Ireland © First Night Design

Map and banner from The Graphics Fairy.
Texture from Kerstin Frank.
Shamrock from Karen’s Whimsy.

Take care and keep laughing!

Related articles

First Night Design | Turning Windmill | Your Thoughts?

Turning Windmill @ First Night Design

Inspired by the work of J M W Turner, I created Turning Windmill (yes, the part-pun is intentional!) by using one of my textures, one from Kerstin Frank and a windmill in Estonia from Wikimedia.  I have not yet uploaded the artwork to any of my galleries as I’m still not too sure about the slightly garish tone. My instinct is to make it much softer.  What do you think?  Do you like it as it is or would you also prefer a softer aspect? If so, do take a moment to comment below.  Thank you.

Take care and keep laughing!

Related articles

First Night Design | Happy Accidents or Tennyson’s Manor

A couple of mornings ago I woke up with a scene in my mind’s eye and knew it was something I wanted to create.  I saw desert, night sky and camels.  I set to work last night.

Kerstin Frank & The Graphics Fairy

But I did not discover Kerstin‘s textures above till this morning and was convinced I could do something with two I already had.

So what happened, Sarah?

A happy accident. I put together two textures from Kerstin Frank that I had previously downloaded and experimented with blending.  It needed more work to create even half the background I had envisaged but I decided to add the camel from The Graphics Fairy and take it from there.  Yet I could not find the camel.  I knew it was on my computer but it was already past midnight and I didn’t have the energy to search properly nor visit The Graphics Fairy to download it again.

What happened next, Sarah?

During the search for the camel, I came across a charming vintage postcard depicting the home of Alfred Lord Tennyson – Aldworth House in Haslemere, Surrey. Let’s try that, I thought, and save it for another artwork.

Aldworth House

The postcard has a facsimile of Tennyson’s signature on the right and the first stanza of In Memoriam on the left:

I held it truth, with him who sings
To one clear harp in divers tones,
That men may rise on stepping-stones
Of their dead selves to higher things.

No sooner had I plonked the postcard on top of the Frank textures than I knew the piece was transformed.  and once I had made certain changes and experimented with different Photoshop states, it became clear that camels under the night sky would have to wait.

Tennyson’s Manor @ First Night Design

So there you have it.

Take care and keep laughing!

A Lady’s Curious Reflection – New!

A Lady’s Curious Reflection © First Night Design

This piece was inspired by vintage fashion plates and decorative postcards from long ago.

I began with a shop background from Wikimedia.

Wikimedia

I added part of a texture from Kerstin Frank on Flickr.

Kerstin Frank

The Edwardian fashion plate and her double, and the lemons are from The Graphics Fairy.

The Graphics Fairy

The Graphics Fairy

A Lady’s Curious Reflection © First Night Design

Take care and keep laughing!

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• A Lady Ponders: New Creation (firstnightdesign.wordpress.com)
• Edwardian Ladies Collage Stamp – Project Ideas (rachelgreig.typepad.com)

Newly-minted Alice: Collage

Alice’s Adventures © First Night Design

Oh, what fun I have had creating this collage! It has been a while since I’ve experimented with my various pieces of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Alice’s Adventures Through the Looking Glass ephemera and it’s been inspiring, satisfying and extremely therapeutic. A life in chaos, as mine is now, lends itself to thoughts of childhood in which Lewis Carroll’s books and verses played an invaluable part in making me feel safe. Perhaps that’s ironic considering her topsy-turvy experiences.

A background from Kerstin Frank, whose textures are works of art in themselves, was an exquisite starting point. The Alician elements are taken from a set of Carreras cigarette cards, which I bought some years ago at an antiques fair in Marlborough, Wiltshire, and have treasured ever since. Overlaying the background is a facsimile page from one of my 19th century copies of the Alice books (I can’t lay my hands on them at the moment to check the publication date), which shows Carroll’s original, handwritten first page of his story, which was then titled Alice’s Adventures Underground.  My great-grandmother started a tale in old age in which she wrote her own version called Alice’s Adventures on The Underground! It is an intriguing premise and I’ve often thought I should carry on with the idea.

Take care and keep laughing!

Related articles

• Happy Birthday, Lewis Carroll
• Conference on Lewis Carroll attracts artists (dailytrojan.com)
• 17 Adaptations Of “Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland” Through The Years (buzzfeed.com)
• Lewis Carroll (thebooksiloved.wordpress.com)