Reflections, Van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites at the National Gallery

Just add pictures

Whilst it is the major, blockbuster exhibitions like the current Charles I, King and Collector at the Royal Academy which receive most of the public’s attention, there remains an important role for smaller, focused exhibitions like Reflections, now showing at the National Gallery.

Reflections focuses on the influence of one painting, the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck. Painted in 1434, the picture was acquired by the National Gallery in 1842. It was the first example in the gallery’s collection of early C15 low country painting. And as such it represented a marked contrast from the Southern European Renaissance and Mannerist painting which dominated the collection and were typically seen as the high point of the art of painting.

The Arnolfini Portrait is a very sophisticated painting, highly naturalistic in execution, And with a quality of the detailing, such as the two figures greeting the pair who can only be…

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Scent Of Pines Tote Bag for Sale by Sarah Vernon

Scent Of Pines Tote Bag by Sarah Vernon. The tote bag is machine washable, available in three different sizes, and includes a black strap for easy carrying on your shoulder. All totes are available for worldwide shipping and include a money-back guarantee.

Source: Scent Of Pines Tote Bag for Sale by Sarah Vernon

First Night Design | Reflecting Egret #Art

Reflecting Egret © Sarah Vernon at Fine Art America

EGRET: ORIGIN Middle English: from Old French aigrette, from Provençal aigreta, from the Germanic base of heron.

Oh, the utter joy of finding the right texture for the right photograph and creating something entirely other. I didn’t have to go far since one of the textures I’ve used for Reflecting Egret is one I created myself. The other is from Kerstin Frank. The photograph I’ve sandwiched between the two is by Laitche and from Wikimedia. I discovered it when I was looking for a pelican for the most recent Cover Makeover.

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 | 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 | Scent of Pines #Art #Gifts

Buy prints of Scent of Pines © Sarah Vernon from Crated

I have combined a beautiful landscape photograph by Ales Krivec at Unsplash with two textures from 2 Lil’ Owls, one in Photoshop’s Normal mode, the other in Linear Burn. The photo is the top layer and in Multiply mode.

© Ales Krivec

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“…freshly cut Christmas trees smelling of stars and snow and pine resin – inhale deeply and fill your soul with wintry night…”
― John Geddes, A Familiar Rain

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Scent of Pines Pack Of Gift Tags

Scent of Pines Greeting Card

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“I remember my childhood names for grasses and secret flowers. I remember where a toad may live and what time the birds awaken in the summer — and what trees and seasons smelled like — how people looked and walked and smelled even. The memory of odors is very rich.”
― John Steinbeck, East of Eden

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Scent of Pines Food Trays

Scent of Pines Bicycle Playing Cards

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

Take care and keep laughing!

A Birth in Gaza

Following on from my earlier re-blog about war from Order of Truth, I offer this piece by Peter Wells of Counting Ducks, which provides a powerful statement about the horrors of war and the mental scars that follow trauma.

countingducks

To those unknowing of my childhood my enigmatic and disconnected behaviour must have seemed odd and possibly uncivilised. In youth I could not see beyond getting by and surviving day by day; ‘learning’ was another country where less damaged people lived. I was busy trying to fly that alien craft I was to discover was myself. Sometime after youth I became aware I was a bruise, and every touch hurt me: intimacy, my most desired wish remained my deepest fear. In time, looking around me I saw that everyone has their bruises to some degree and felt, and understood, like me, that to a greater or lesser extent our limping and imperfect journey to a fog-bound destination was marked by the need for self-protection. Those marks, invisible to the naked eye, were our unspoken history, not recorded in those smiling photographs taken on the beach, sitting beside the man who abused you when…

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First Night Design | A Bar at the Folies-Bergère – Édouard Manet

A Bar at the Folies-Bergère – Édouard Manet Gallery Wrap Canvas

Painted in 1882, a year before his death, Edouard Manet’s A Bar at the Folies-Bergère is a beautiful and somewhat unsettling piece of art when you realise the reflections in the mirror don’t make sense.

‘This is not a realistic painting of the Folies-Bergère. Suzon did work there, but she posed for the painting in Manet’s studio, behind a table laden with bottles. He merged this image with rapid painted sketches he made at the Folies-Bergère. There is no attempt to make the image cohere: there is, as contemporary critics pointed out, an inconsistency to the relationship between the reflections in the mirror and the real things. The man in the top hat approaching Suzon in a sinister way in the top right hand corner of the mirror would in reality have to be standing with his back to us in front of the bar, and Suzon herself should be reflected in an entirely different place.’  The Guardian

A visit to the Courtauld Gallery is a must to see this masterpiece in person. When the painting was on loan to the Getty Center, the curators installed a mirror so that the visitor could ponder the inconsistencies.

In 1934, Ninette de Valois choreographed a ballet based on Bar at the Folies-Bergère, which was accompanied by the music of Emmanuel Chabrier who had  been a neighbour of Manet’s and had once owned the painting.

Related

• Courtauld Gallery
• The Guardian
• Wikipedia
• The J Paul Getty Museum

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Bridge of Sighs

Bridge of Sighs © First Night Design

Not that Bridge of Sighs, of course, but mine own. It comprises several layers including a background from EKDuncan, a texture from 2 Lil Owls, a family photo and one from Wikimedia to create a watercolour effect. I would love to be able to work in watercolour but short of that I like to get as close as I can with digital art.

Fellow British artist Jean Haines not only produces exquisite watercolours but also writes fabulous how-to books.

Colour and Light in Water Colour (How to Paint) by Jean Haines

Related

• Bridge of Sighs in Venice
• Watercolours by Jean Haines
• Watercolours with Life

Have a beautiful week!

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Island in the Storm

Island in the Storm by FirstNightDesign

Beguiling is the word when I think upon what I can do in Photoshop. About eighteen months ago, I started working on a photograph from Wikimedia of Okunevy Island in Lake Vuoksa, near Priozersk, situated between Finland and Russia.  It is a stunning image in itself, as you can see below, but I wanted to create something entirely new. Could I? Could I f**k! I let it be.

Lake Vuoksa [Wikimedia]

In the meantime, my knowledge of what the software could accomplish increased exponentially, mostly by instinct and a deal of trial and error. (I’m not a one for following instructions — not the software kind, at least, since these rarely succeed in producing what I have in my mind’s eye.)

Yesterday, I picked up where I had left off and deleted some of the textures I had previously included and added new ones of my own, as well as this one from Kerstin Frank.

Kerstin Frank

My usual tweaking not twerking and blending not bending resulted in Island Storm.

Island Storm © First Night Design

Island in the Storm by FirstNightDesign

Take care and keep laughing!

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!

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