First Night Design | Diomedea #Art #Reblog

FROM THE ARCHIVE: 25th September 2015

‘Once you decide that it is the art that is important and not how popular and well-received you are, you no longer have an albatross.’ Stephen Stills, musician and instrumentalist. (Remember Crosby…

Source: First Night Design | Diomedea #Art | First Night Design

Botanical Fruit Postcard | Zazzle #Sold!

Orientation: Postcard

• 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: 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: Botanical Fruit Postcard | Zazzle

N.B. I’m not currently responding to comments or visiting blogs because of ill-health but I much appreciate your support.

Take care and keep laughing!

There Must Be A Way To Love You Card | Zazzle

One of my favourite sheet music covers.
Shop There Must Be A Way To Love You Card created by FirstNightVintage. Personalize it with photos & text or purchase as is!

Size: Greeting Card

Birthdays or holidays, good days or hard days, Zazzle’s customized greeting cards are the perfect way to convey your wishes on any occasion. Add a photo or pick a design and brighten someone’s day with a simple “hi”!

• Dimensions: 5″ x 7″ (portrait) or 7″ x 5″ (landscape)
• Full color CMYK print process
• All-sided printing for no additional cost
• Printable area on the back of the card is 3″ x 4″ (portrait) or 4″ x 3″ (landscape)

Standard white envelopes included

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: There Must Be A Way To Love You Card | Zazzle

Take care and keep laughing!

Solitude Galaxy S6 Case for Sale by Sarah Vernon

Solitude Galaxy S6 Case for Sale by Sarah Vernon. Protect your Galaxy S6 with an impact-resistant, slim-profile, hard-shell case. The image is printed directly onto the case and wrapped around the edges for a beautiful presentation. Simply snap the case onto your Galaxy S6 for instant protection and direct access to all of the phone’s features!

Source: Solitude Galaxy S6 Case for Sale by Sarah Vernon

Take care and keep laughing!

Jug With Yellow And Violet Flowers Shower Curtain for Sale by Sarah Vernon

Sight Update — It’s like trying to read a language that is a mash-up of the Greek and Russian alphabets. Isn’t that fun!

Jug With Yellow And Violet Flowers Shower Curtain by Sarah Vernon. This shower curtain is made from 100% polyester fabric and includes 12 holes at the top of the curtain for simple hanging. The total dimensions of the shower curtain are 71″ wide x 74″ tall.

Source: Jug With Yellow And Violet Flowers Shower Curtain for Sale by Sarah Vernon

Take care and keep laughing!

Punch & Judy Calendar | Zazzle #Sold!

Taken 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.

Layout: Single Page

Make each day an important occasion with a customized calendar from Zazzle. You can add photos for each month, and even use our Calendar Grid Transparency to mark off important family and life events. A great gift to hand out or just to hang in your home or office!

• Available in 2 sizes:
  • Small: 11”l x 7″w
  • Medium: 17”l x 11″w
• Printed on sturdy high-quality paper with vibrant full-color, full-bleed printing
• Choose from 16 unique grid styles, 21 language & culture styles and 4 holiday & event templates
• Pick your own year, start and end dates, and calendar length
• Wire binding available 7 different colors
• Perfect holiday gift for family members

Source: Punch & Judy Calendar | Zazzle

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Beulah, Peel Me A Grape #Art

Weekender Tote Bag @ Fine Art America

I was surprised to discover that I have never added Beulah, Peel Me A Grape to this blog. Or the WordPress search isn’t working properly! Do I need to tell you where the title comes from? No, I thought not.

While you can find all kinds of gifts and products with this design in my other online galleries (as in the links below), I have chosen to feature what is available at Fine Art America.

Greeting Cards @ Fine Art America

Throw Pillows @ Fine Art America

Beach Towels @ Fine Art America

iPhone 6s Cases @ Fine Art America

And now I’m going to go back on my avowed intention and show you a Rickshaw Messenger Bag from Zazzle because I like it so much!

Beulah, Peel Me a Grape Messenger Bag
by FirstNightDesign

Vintage lady and grapes courtesy of The Graphics Fairy with my own textures added.

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 | Snuggling Yellow Roses #Photography

Snuggling Yellow Roses © Sarah Vernon at Crated

The fragrance of flowers spreads only in the direction of the wind. But the goodness of a person spreads in all directions. Chanakya

“Daffodowndilly
She wore her yellow sun-bonnet,
She wore her greenest gown;
She turned to the south wind
And curtsied up and down.
She turned to the sunlight
And shook her yellow head,
And whispered to her neighbor:
“Winter is dead.”
― A.A. Milne, When We Were Very Young

“Yellow is a very favorable vibration for mental or intellectual activity, as it promotes a clear state of mind. Yellow heightens your awareness and alleviates depression, sadness, or any kind of despondency. Yellow vibration foods are: pineapples, bananas, grapefruit, lemons and corn.”
― Tae Yun Kim, The First Element: Secrets to Maximizing Your Energy

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 | Jug with Yellow and Violet Flowers #Art

Jug with Yellow and Violet Flowers © Sarah Vernon

‘Recipe’

The Hot Sands, Mustapha, Algiers by Charles Conder

Take a detail from The Hot Sands, Mustapha, Algiers by Charles Conder from the Google Art Project on Wikimedia, some textures by 2 Lil’ Owls, some diverse photographs of unrelated objects, and simply play!

Jug with Yellow and Violet Flowers Card 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 | Solitude #Art

Solitude Framed Print © Sarah Vernon – Fine Art America

I created Solitude while I was still in Crete. Although I wasn’t thinking so at the time, you could say it symbolises my yearning for peace and solitude, as well as freedom from fear and anxiety, all of which I know that my cottage on the Isle of Wight will provide, even though it doesn’t look like the photograph by Antony Delanoix (Unsplash).  As you can see below, it’s quite bland and thus a perfect starting point for my playing. I couldn’t find any details but I imagine it’s Greece or Turkey or some Mediterranean country.

Anthony Delanoix

Solitude Tea Cup by FirstNightDesign

I used a grungy yellow background from my arsenal and a texture from Kerstin Frank and, though I say it myself as shouldn’t, I was delighted with the effect! Hope you are too.

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“Solitude is fine but you need someone to tell that solitude is fine.”
― Honoré de Balzac

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Solitude Laptop Skin © Sarah Vernon – Redbubble

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“If you’re lonely when you’re alone, you’re in bad company.”
― Jean-Paul Sartre

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Solitude Postage Stamp by FirstNightDesign

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“Literature is the most agreeable way of ignoring life.”
― Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet

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Solitude Watch 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 | Diomedea #Art

Diomedea © Sarah Vernon

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‘Once you decide that it is the art that is important and not how popular and well-received you are, you no longer have an albatross.’
Stephen Stills, musician and instrumentalist. (Remember Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young?)

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This was a fascinating process. My original idea had been to do this albatross, or Diomedea, from the Biodiversity Heritage Library in exactly the same manner as my Biodiversity bird collection but playing with textures wrought a very different result, as you can see.

I placed a first layer of plain yellow in Normal mode. The second layer is 2 Lil’ Owls’ Beguiling-22 texture in Colour Burn mode. I added Angie Makes’ bluewatercolor in Multiply mode and finally another 2 Lil’ Owls, Beguiling-18, in Linear Burn mode. The final touch was the albatross in Subtract mode. It may appear as if it was very simple but it wasn’t, of course, as I experimented endlessly with different blends.

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 | “My arms are too long!” #Art

Woman in Black © Sarah Vernon

I’ve called my latest piece Woman in Black, not because she is dressed in black, but because the scene I’ve created reminds me of Susan Hill’s The Woman in Black. If you’ve only ever seen the stage adaptation (still running in London at the Fortune Theatre), I strongly recommend reading the book: it is genuinely intriguing, frightening and mysterious.

The Woman in Black: A Ghost Story by Susan Hill

Yet again, I’ve used the Chinese print from the Library of Congress at Flickr and blended it once more with the Beguiling-18 texture from 2 Lil’ Owls. The costumed lady (Ida Rubinstein) by Ballet Russes artist Léon Bakst is from Wikimedia.

Woman in Black Greeting Card

The title of this post is because Mr FND said he thought woman’s arms were unusually long and that reminded me of absurdist playwright NF Simpson’s play, One Way Pendulum, in which one of the characters keeps complaining that her arms are too long! If you’re interested in learning more about Simpson, click here for a reblog from The Guardian on Rogues & Vagabonds which I was prompted to post by writing about Simpson 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 | Adam’s Apples

Adam’s Apples © Sarah Vernon

Vintage apples from The Graphics Fairy and textures from 2 Lil’ Owls. I haven’t uploaded it for sale yet but I thought you might like it, particularly Mary of Oil Pastels for Mary as we were talking about doing something like Copper Pear. I told her I could never repeat a particular kind of beauty!

Do you think I need to make the apples greener? I’ve been farting about with it forever and I’m still not sure.

Soon to be 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 | Oriental Glimpse

THE GOOD NEWS: my Cosmote internet connection is back to normal…well, as normal as it will ever be in these parts! I had not, it turns out, used my monthly bandwidth limit. Everyone’s connection has been unconscionably slow in this area for the last week or so because of the weather — a wind that could knock you flat in a second, let alone destroy elements of the landscape like aerials.

Oriental Glimpse © Sarah Vernon

The joy of being able to create again knows no bounds. It soothes my soul. For Oriental Glimpse, I mixed and matched innumerable flower and architectural images from my collection and The Graphics Fairy along with a textured background from Denise at 2 Lil’ Owls, courtesy of a specially discounted bundle from Design Cuts.

Oriental Glimpse Tote Bag © Sarah Vernon

Oriental Glimpse Duvet Cover © Sarah Vernon

Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Crated
Fine Art America
Fine Art England

Take care and keep laughing!

First Night Design | Looking Forward to Thanksgiving

A Bountiful Thanksgiving © Sarah Vernon

I’ve just sold A Bountiful Thanksgiving greeting card on Redbubble. So that’ll pay for the weekend in Paris, then. Irony? Heaven forfend I should be accused of that!

Here for your delectation is the matching tote bag.

Take care and keep laughing!