Hollywood Vintage Gloria Postcard | Zazzle #Sold

Inspired by Edward Steichen’s portrait of Hollywood actress Gloria Swanson covered in lace (Museum of Modern Art).

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 color CMYK print process
• Double sided printing for no additional cost
• Postage rate: $0.34

Paper Type: Semi-Gloss

A thin, smooth paper designed for photo printing with the optimal color vibrancy —a solid choice for all your printing needs.

• Bright white, semi-gloss finish
• Semi-gloss finish helps photos pop
• 40% post-consumer content
• Made and printed in the USA

Source: Hollywood Vintage Gloria Postcard | Zazzle

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 | A Rose in Snow #Art

Since the above isn’t the kind of work I normally do, I’m not at all sure whether the image is effective. It’s part of a photograph of a rose I took a few days ago. It wasn’t actually snowing — I was inside — but I ‘painted’ it in Corel Painter and purposely left the specks of white as if there had been a gentle sprinkling of snow…or does it look like dandruff? I finished it off with a texture by Kerstin Frank. Does it have any appeal?

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“It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important.”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

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Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Abandoned Hideaway #Art #HomeDecor

Abandoned Hideaway © Sarah Vernon at Fine Art America

I’m delighted with the effect of a Kerstin Frank texture on my photograph of a run-down shed in my friend’s garden!

Abandoned Hideaway Card by FirstNightDesign

Abandoned Hideaway Throw Pillow by FirstNightDesign

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 Louise Brooks Tattoo Take 2 #AlteredVintage

Buy The Louise Brooks Tattoo Take 2 © Sarah Vernon from Redbubble

It’s time for another of my Edward Steichen-like Hollywood makeovers. When I’m in need of some glamour, I head straight for the silent movie headshots of the 1920s, especially as found on Hello Tuesday at Deviant Art, which is where I discovered this photograph of Louise Brooks.

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“I never gave away anything without wishing I had kept it; nor kept anything without wishing I had given it away.”
― Louise Brooks

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Some of you may remember that I was originally inspired by Edward Steichen’s famous photograph of actress Gloria Swanson covered in lace (Museum of Modern Art).  I’ve already done one such of Louise Brooks and this is ‘Take 2’!

In what one might say is now time-honoured fashion, I overlaid Brooks with this lace effect vintage wallpaper from MGB-Stock.

Buy The Louise Brooks Tattoo Spiral Notebook © Sarah Vernon from Redbubble

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“Most beautiful dumb girls think they are smart and get away with it, because other people, on the whole, aren’t much smarter.”
― Louise Brooks

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For more Hollywood Tattoo makeovers, click here.

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 | Venetian Harbour, Chania #Art

Venetian Harbour, Chania © Sarah Vernon

This photograph of the Venetian Harbour in Chania, Crete, was taken by me on this occasion and not Mr FND! My idea was to create a watercolour with the gentle lines of a preparatory drawing showing through.

My first layer was the bluewatercolor from Angie Makes in Photoshop’s Normal mode. This I followed with the Beguiling-18 texture from 2 Lil’ Owls in Linear Burn. As you can see, I’m getting a lot of mileage out of those two backgrounds! Next came the Venetian Harbour which I put in Screen mode. To create the line drawing, I used the Trace Contour tool; this is not the best tool in the world but since I wanted the bare minimum showing, I knew it could work. To top it off, I used another 2 Lil’ Owls texture, 2LO Confetti 8. Putting the latter in Multiply mode was the perfect finishing touch.

The original harbour photograph © Sarah Vernon

The last time I tried to create a watercolour effect with this photo — some years ago now — it was disastrous and very obviously ‘Photoshopped’ using their ‘watercoloor’ tool. Not a good idea. I’m much happier this time round!

Incidentally, the mosque in the centre of the picture is the Mosque of the Janissaries, now an art gallery. If you ever find yourself in the harbour, by all means have a drink but don’t, whatever you do, eat a meal. The quality is appalling and you would be better off going up the side streets to find good, authentic food. Most important of all, avoid the taverna that sells very pink and very green cocktails — coloured fizzy water at best! We were each offered one for free having allowed the owner to do a quick run round the harbour on my mobility scooter. Never again!

Here, for your delectation, is a recipe for what looks and sounds like an excellent green cocktail from MyBestCocktails.com:

Minttu

Ingredients
1 oz Malibu Rum
1 oz Cuban Rum
1 oz Batida de Coco
2/3 oz Midori
1 oz Pineapple Juice
6 leaves Mint Leaves

1. Shake all ingredients in a shaker with ice.
2. Pour into a tall glass with some ice.
3. Enjoy!

No, I’ve never come across Midori either!

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

Take care and keep laughing!

Tangle Mountain: Playing with Textures

ONE FROM THE ARCHIVE — OCTOBER 2013

Originally posted on First Night Design.

Tangle Mountain © First Night Design

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.

So says Ratty to Mole in the first chapter of Kenneth Grahame’s classic tale, only to  crash straight into the river bank.  Ah, bliss.

I feel much the same when it comes to messing about with photographs and textures to create something unique. Sometimes I crash; sometimes something wonderful and unexpected happens.  Such was the case with Tangle Mountain.

I began with this intriguing photograph of a castle in Liechtenstein by Karpati Gabor downloaded from Morguefile. I was particularly struck by the seemingly painted effect of the land and castle. The latter looks as though it has come from a Tim Burton animation.

Often I will try countless photographs and textures before…

via Tangle Mountain: Playing with Textures.

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 | “Ah, every day dear Herbert becomes de plus en plus Oscarié…”

Update 21-10-14: Alas, the Wilde family have very strict control of their famous forebear’s work and this wonderful image has not been allowed so is no longer for sale at my Zazzle vintage store.

Oscar Wilde by Napoleon Sarony 1882 

New to my vintage store on Zazzle is this glorious sepia photograph of the inimitable Oscar Wilde. It was taken in 1882 by Napoleon Sarony and hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was able to use it as the image is in the public domain on Wikimedia.

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“Ah, every day dear Herbert becomes de plus en plus Oscarié. It is a wonderful case of nature imitating art.” Wilde commenting on actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree’s unwitting acquisition of certain on-stage character traits in a Wilde play in his off-stage life.

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Take care and keep laughing!

Pulteney Bridge, Bath

Black and White

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Capricorn Abstract or A Goat Centre Stage

One from the archives.

First Night Design

My latest abstract is the result of a happy accident.  I began with the idea of creating a faux vintage picture with an animal, in other words, something along the lines of the image below (genuine vintage).

But as soon as I blended a background from Textures of Italy and a photograph of a goat that I took a couple of years ago, I was so delighted by the shapes, textures and colours, that I wanted go no further.

I have no doubt I’ll be doing my faux vintage animal in the near future, though.

Take care and keep laughing!

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My Great-Grandmother Lucia

A post from 2011.

First Night Design

Lucia Whitaker

My great-grandmother, Lucia, was a gently beautiful woman.  I have late Victorian photographs to show me just how charming she was to look at and last week I created an image with her as the centrepiece.  This particular photograph (below), which admittedly stands on its own, was exquisitely hand-tinted.

Being me, however, I wanted to embellish it!  I used my own textures and backgrounds alongside one from The Graphics Fairy and one from Deviant Art.

Lucia died in 1906 when she was in her 40s. There is some mystery about how she died. My mother used to imagine that Lucia had had a riding accident since she found the idea so romantic. I obtained Lucia’s death certificate from Somerset House but the writing is too spidery to transcribe and be certain of the cause.  Her name suggests there was an Italian connection in the family but I…

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First Night Design | Unfortunate Coincidence

By the time you swear you’re his,
Shivering and sighing,
And he vows his passion is
Infinite, undying —
Lady,  make a note of this:
One of you is lying.

The Collected Dorothy Parker

Take care and keep laughing!

Related articles

Great Uncle Norman: ‘shot by a single sniper’

They Shall Grow Not Old © Sarah Vernon (prints, posters, cushions, cards)

‘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.’

Captain Norman Austin Taylor © Sarah Vernon

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, wives, brothers, children.

“Poor Norman,” said my grandmother Joyce in the 1950s, and turned away so that her youngest son changed the subject.  Was she still, so many, many years later, too saddened by her brother’s death to talk or had he, for her, become nothing but a stereotyped photograph about whom she felt unable to talk?

A stereotyped photograph.  I have two in my possession, both of Norman in Army uniform. The round, boyish face of inexperience looks at me in the one [above]: a bland, almost formal, expression gives way to a makeshift confidence on closer inspection and, with arms folded, suggests a reluctance to be photographed.

In the other [below], he leans against a pillar with engaging insouciance; a cigarette holder, the ash about to drop, rests between sturdy fingers.  Three or four years, maybe less, separate the pictures. The poise in the latter cannot mask the face of a man who has experienced the muck and the noise, the unutterable panic and horror of trench warfare.

Captain Noman Austin Taylor © Sarah Vernon

‘He was hit at four o’clock on the morning of 24th March 1918,’ wrote Joyce the following year.  ‘I felt that icy hand on my heart which I shall never now feel again.’   When I first read my grandmother’s words, I took her to mean that only her brother’s death could produce such an icy hand.  I look at the words now and see only that she felt her heart would never feel anything again.  Perhaps that is why she turned away from her son.

We will remember them.

Captain Norman Austin Taylor 1895-1918

@ALBerridge I thought you might enjoy this post about my great-uncle during #WWI http://t.co/p8CYYU8nRz

— First Night Design (@FirstNightArt) May 15, 2014

@FirstNightArt That’s beautifully written and very moving. No high drama, just the reality of human loss in a war. Great post – thank you.

— Louise Berridge (@ALBerridge) May 15, 2014

@ALBerridge I’m so glad you like it.

— First Night Design (@FirstNightArt) May 15, 2014

Take care and keep laughing!

Related articles

• No More War
• The brothers in arms claimed by the Western Front (telegraph.co.uk)
• Great Profits during the Great War? | Elizabeth Bruton and Graeme Gooday (oddonion.com)
• WWI deaths showed the humanity amid the horror (telegraph.co.uk)
• WWI in Color (metafilter.com)

Tangle Mountain: Playing with Textures

Tangle Mountain © First Night Design

“Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing – absolutely nothing – half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.” The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame

So says Ratty to Mole in the first chapter of Kenneth Grahame’s classic tale, only to  crash straight into the river bank.  Ah, bliss.

I feel much the same when it comes to messing about with photographs and textures to create something unique. Sometimes I crash; sometimes something wonderful and unexpected happens.  Such was the case with Tangle Mountain.

I began with this intriguing photograph of a castle in Liechtenstein by Karpati Gabor downloaded from Morguefile. I was particularly struck by the seemingly painted effect of the land and castle. The latter looks as though it has come from a Tim Burton animation.

Often I will try countless photographs and textures before finding the combination that works.  In this instance, a couple of my textures with one from Kim Klassen and I knew I was almost there.

The finishing touch was a photograph I took of a wall when on holiday in Greece.

Take care and keep laughing!

Related articles

• Vintage style textures – Anemone (louisehowell.wordpress.com)
• Time Team’s Tony Robinson turns clock back with Wind in the Willows stage return (standard.co.uk)