“Emerald Arches” Tall Mugs by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

Features / Art Universe 12 December 2015 / Digital Art at Its Best 6 October 2015 / Everyday Women 3 September 2015 /

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.

• Also buy this artwork on home decor, apparel, stickers, and more.

Source: “Emerald Arches” Tall Mugs by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

Take care and keep laughing!

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First Night Design | Day at the Exhibition (What! No Heffalumps?) #Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE 7 March 2014
What! No elephants? Visitors who read yesterday’s post will know this piece started out with elephants. After adding textures from 2 Lil’ Owls, I played around for some while adding and…

Source: First Night Design | Day at the Exhibition (What! No Heffalumps?)

First Night Design | Waiting to Travel #Art Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE April 2015

Waiting to Travel © Sarah Vernon

I’ve been playing at Grand Central Station. Using a photograph of the concourse by Nicolai Berntsen and a red sky background by Breno Machado, both from Unsplash, I added a texture from Kim Klassen to create a painted effect which reminds me a little of L S Lowry. I should be so talented!

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“The long days seduce all thought away…

Source: First Night Design | Waiting to Travel

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:
Redbubble
Crated
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America
Fine Art England
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Architectural Oddity: Another Look

Architectural Oddity © First Night Design [Redbubble]

Originally posted in July 2013, here is Architectural Oddity again with all the gallery links (below).

Surreal art created with a vintage postcard in my collection of the British Textile Pavilion at the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition in London.
Background layer: Playing with Brushes.
Texture: Textures of Italy.

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 | Waiting to Travel

Waiting to Travel © Sarah Vernon

I’ve been playing at Grand Central Station. Using a photograph of the concourse by Nicolai Berntsen and a red sky background by Breno Machado, both from Unsplash, I added a texture from Kim Klassen to create a painted effect which reminds me a little of L S Lowry. I should be so talented!

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“The long days seduce all thought away, and we lie like the lizards in the sun, postponing our lives indefinitely.”
― Elizabeth Smart, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept

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

Take care and keep laughing!

Incomplete

A musically delightful way to end the day, courtesy of belsbror.

belsbror

Before I sign off for the day, I think you are all entitled for an explanation why I intentionally posted only videos today. It’s rather simple actually: my mind was out there somewhere, obviously far away from writing. 😀

I will leave you with a famous short story, the narrative expertly sung.

Be well!

Goodnight guys and gals! 🙂

BLOGGING   LIFE/STYLES   MY STORIES   WHISPER   ZONE

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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!

First Night Design | Day at the Exhibition (What! No Heffalumps?)

Day at the Exhibition © First Night Design — Buy prints, posters & cards at Fine Art America.

What! No elephants?

Visitors who read yesterday’s post will know this piece started out with elephants. After adding textures from 2 Lil’ Owls, I played around for some while adding and deleting various elements until despair set in. Okay, I’m exaggerating but my patience ran out when I couldn’t create what I  envisaged. I was still looking through my archives for other elements that might help realise my vision when I came across this vintage postcard of the entrance to the British Textile Pavilion at the Franco-British Exhibition in area of London that is now known as White City in 1908. It was held to celebrate the Entente Cordiale signed in 1904 by the United Kingdom and France. I put it in the frame with the idea that I would make it a smaller, collage-like element.

But…as soon as I saw what the Pavilion looked like with this 2 Lil’ Owls texture, I deleted the elephants.

Day at the Exhibition was on its way. After some adjustments, it was ready.

Day at the Exhibition Cards by FirstNightDesign

I leave you with a couple of limericks that were penned to advertise the event that I discovered on the Exhibition’s entry at Wikipedia.

A maiden of coy disposition,

Met her fate at the Bush Exhibition,

When his great love he told her,

Placed her head on his shoulder,

And enjoyed the happier position.

In an Anglo-French section one night,

A Youth met a Maiden, gay and bright,

But her idea of pleasure,

Was of such boundless measure,

He left with heart heavy – purse light.

Take care and keep laughing!

New Calendars for 2014

First Night Design Calendar 2014

Punch & Judy Calendar 2014

The first calendar comprises a mix of my designs created during the last eighteen months. The Punch & Judy calendar features illustrations from original copper-plate engravings for Mr Pug’s Visit; or, the Disasters of Mr. Punch, published in 1806 by J. Harris on the corner of St. Paul’s Church Yard. It’s that last detail that delights me particularly!

Take care and keep laughing!

Architectural Oddity

Surreal art created with a vintage postcard in my collection of the British Textile Pavilion at the 1908 Franco-British Exhibition in London.
Background layer: Playing with Brushes.
Texture: Textures of Italy.

Take care and keep laughing!