First Night Design | Midnight Shipwreck #New #Art

Midnight Shipwreck © Sarah Vernon Tank Top at Redbubble

When I was young, my father – a passionate sailor – bought a small yacht called Bruno of Bath. Eighteen months ago, I received an email from a couple who had bought her, seen a list of her previous owners from the 1960s, found me on the internet and told me they were restoring her. They have promised to sail her to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight where I now live and where Bruno was often moored so that I can see her again. This rusting pilot boat looks nothing like my father’s Westerly but I have named her in honour of my childhood adventures.

Original photograph from Absfreepic. Texture from Jewell of Distressed at Flickr.

Midnight Shipwreck © Sarah Vernon Framed Print at Redbubble

So far she’s only available on products at Redbubble but I will be uploading the picture to my other galleries shortly.

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfilment centres in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

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First Night Design | Valentine Blush All Over the Place

Valentine Blush Low-Top Sneakers

Valentine Blush Guest Book

Valentine Blush All-Over Print Tank Top

Valentine Blush Stationery

Valentine Blush Tote Bag

Valentine Blush Cushion

Valentine Blush Notebook

Valentine Blush Gift Tags

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfilment centres in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | The Swan Also Rises Wrapping Paper #Sold!

The Swan Also Rises Wrapping Paper

The Swan Also Rises Wrapping Paper

Well, that’s a turn-up for the books. I’ve sold some The Swan Also Rises Wrapping Paper. Thank you, whoever you are!

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Child in White by Pierre Auguste Renoir Poster #Sold!

Child in White by Pierre Auguste Renoir Poster

A delight it is to sell a poster of Renoir’s charming child!

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First Night Design | New! The Easter Hat Box #VintageArt

The Easter Hat Box Greeting Card © Sarah Vernon at Redbubble

This is an original vintage colour lithograph by Frank A. Nankwell used for a Puck periodical cover in 1899 (April 5) from The Library of Congress and copyrighted by Keppler & Schwarzman. Easter has never looked so attractive!

Please note that Zazzle is taking a long time for this design to show in search results.

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfilment centres in 5 countries]

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Alice in Wonderland: The Cook Binder #Sold!

Alice in Wonderland: The Cook Binders

by FirstNightDesign

Sold!

Remind me to create something new with these original cigarette cards or, rather, playing cards. They were sold to me as cigarette cards but a recent conversation online and a search to complete the set made me realise they were playing cards!

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First Night Design | St Patrick’s Day Feast #Napkins #Placemats #Sold!

Wearing the Green on St Patrick’s Day Cloth Napkins

Wearing the Green on St Patrick’s Day Placemats

 

Sold!

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First Night Design | “How far that little candle throws its beams!”

Such fun! Zazzle have started producing candles. What could be better than to show you a candle that matches Spring Passion because you will, of course, be needing candles to go with that exquisite meal you will be conjuring up on Valentine’s Day for the person you adore.

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“How far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.”
[Portia in The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare]

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Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | “I Must Have Flowers, Always and Always” #Valentine

Spring Passion Greeting Card © Sarah Vernon

Photograph © Sarah Vernon. Flowers, 30-08-17. Processed in Topaz Impression with the Impasto filter and painterly touches added in Photoshop.

Spring Passion Drawstring Bag © Sarah Vernon

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“I must have flowers, always and always.” Claude Monet

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Spring Passion would be suitable for any occasion, not least Valentine’s Day. Sometimes the simplest image is the best.

Spring Passion Mug © Sarah Vernon

Lots of other products available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | The Secret Gate #New #Art

‘Trust in dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.’ Khalil Gibran

I took this view from one of my favourite vantage points in Bembridge before I went into hospital on the August Bank Holiday. I used a Chiaroscuro effect in Topaz Impression before processing in Photoshop by adding a Cheryl Tarrant texture in Multiply mode.

The Secret Gate Card

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Alice, the Flamingo and Rabbit Holes

Alice in Wonderland: Alice and the Flamingo Postcard | Zazzle.com

To illustrate my Alice card, the following is a very satisfying interpretation, written by Gigi at Rethinking Life, of what Alice in Wonderland is really about.

Alice didn’t fall down the Rabbit Hole, she bloody well jumped.  She was tired of her pre-planned life and wasn’t looking forward to marriage and the rigid rules that went with it.  She ran after the rabbit, curious and terrified that she would lose sight of him and be forced to stay where she was.  She saw him jump and she dove in head first after him.  Because she was willing to risk everything, she drank, shrunk, grew, found a new world, went to a fabulous tea party, met a crazed hat maker, a door mouse and enjoyed herself immensely.

She got to see an amazing cat, one who could disappear but leave his smile behind, a drug-addicted caterpillar and twin boys named Tweedle who were strange, to say the least.  She got to hold a flamingo. She saw huge, brightly colored,  flora, fauna and she learned that everything she saw could not be trusted to be real.  She saw the Queen of Hearts and ate a tart.  She saw that life didn’t have to be dull and boring, it could be so much more. She didn’t have to to get married, live in a house and do as she was told.  She realized that she could be free to explore everything. Even the Jabberwocky was interesting.   The biggest thing she learned was that she had the courage to take whatever risks came her way.  She was brave and wild.  She wasn’t cut out for a ‘normal’ life, she was meant for something different…she wasn’t going to settle, she was going to fly.  And that is the true meaning of the Rabbit Hole. Source: Alice.. | Rethinking Life

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First Night Design | Salt in the Air #Art #New!

“Salt in the Air” Framed Prints by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

Features / Artists with Disabilities 1 September 2017 / © Sarah Vernon. Overlooking the Solent, Bembridge, Isle of Wight, UK 27-08-17. Taken with an iPhone 6c. Processed in Photoshop – duplicated layer in Colour Burn and adjustments to Vibrance and Contrast. • Also buy this artwork on wall prints, apparel, stickers, and more.

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“We can never obtain peace in the outer world until we make peace with ourselves.”
― Dalai Lama XIV

Then again—

“There is no such thing as inner peace. There is only nervousness and death.”
― Fran Lebowitz

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Be that as it may, the spot photographed is as near to external peace on my little island. Note how it’s suddenly ‘my’ island now that I’m living here! For those new to this blog, I’m talking about the Isle of Wight. Mind you, I probably said the same when I was still in Crete.

“Salt in the Air” Drawstring Bags by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

 

“Salt in the Air” Mugs by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

“Salt in the Air” Laptop Skins by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Summer & Winter Wildlife card #GCU #Sold!

Click image or here to buy

 

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First Night Design | Halloween: The Final Frontier card #GCU #Sold!

This cute illustration of a young witch (surely an innocent apprentice!), with her cat and pumpkin carriage, takes us back to the early 20th century when greeting card illustration was highly inventive and extremely popular. I have given her a new lease of life with a starry night background.

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Bembridge Lifeboat Station #Art #New

Click to buy Bembridge Lifeboat Station framed print (Fine Art America) © Sarah Vernon

As some of you know, our summer holidays as children were spent in Bembridge on the Isle of Wight where I now live. The other week I trundled round on my mobility scooter visiting my favourite haunts. This shot of Bembridge Lifeboat Station through the trees is just where the steps lead down to the beach and to the exact spot we invariably used for swimming.

It is true the original photograph is rather appealing and some of you on Facebook have already seen it as my header but true to form, I had to play.

I used two textures from Design Cuts — a yellow-based and a green-based one. I ran the photograph through Topaz Impression three or four times to produce different effects. I chose to layer ‘Cezanne 1’ and ’Cavedweller’ (as you do) and blended them with the textures to produce a digital painting. I hope it pleases you as much as it did me in its creation.

Click to buy Bembridge Lifeboat Station tote bag (Fine Art America) © Sarah Vernon

Part of a paper read to the Ladies of Shanklin Evening Institute, October 1951.

“It is quite possible that some among you are quite ignorant of everything connected with Lifeboat work […] I have no intention of going back into remote history, or to the founding of the Institution in 1824.  Moreover, I expect you will think that I have gone back quite far enough if I commence with the time of your grandfathers, and I select that particular time because it was then that the proud reputation of the Lifeboat Institution was built up, on the great hearts and stout muscles of the grand old men who served as crews for the small pulling and sailing lifeboats stationed round our coasts.  But to really understand the heroism of these grand old fellows, and to give them full credit for their marvellous rescues, and for their self-sacrificing efforts, one must be possessed of…” Bembridge Lifeboat

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK
Fine Art America [14 fulfillment centers in 5 countries]
Saatchi Art

Take care and keep laughing!