First Night Design | Flying Colours — New!

Flying Colours at Saatchi Art

As a lover of all things maritime and a descendant of admirals and sailors, I am often drawn to centuries-old paintings of seacraft at work or play. I created Flying Colours with two images far apart in time. One layer is the Russian Squadron at Malta, 20 October 1827, painted by Alfred Gomersal Vickers which is in the public domain. The other is a photograph of Bembridge Lifeboat which I took the other day. I have melded them together using Photoshop’s various tools to make it look as if it were an original 19th-century image.

Flying Colours Fleece Blanket at Redbubble

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

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“Parrot with Plums” Spiral Notebooks by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

Featured in Beautiful Blends 4 July 2013. / Featured in Layered Up 2 July 2013. / Background from EKDuncan-My Fanciful Muse, plums from Vintage Art Download and parrot from Birds from The Natural History of Carolina, Florida, and The Bahama Islands by Mark Catesby and George Edwards, published in 1754, and found on Public Domain Review. / Blog / Facebook / Twitter • Also buy this artwork on stationery, apparel, stickers, and more.

Source: “Parrot with Plums” Spiral Notebooks by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

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“The Cuckoo’s Note” Laptop Skins by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble #Gifts

Features / Art Universe 2 September 2015 / Creation 2 August 2015 / Crosses, Crafts & Collectibles 2 August 2015 / Everyday Women 30 July 2015. / Creation 26 July 2015. / Layered Up 27 July 2015. / Photoshop / Cuckoo: Biodiversity Library on Flickr. / Own textures. • Also buy this artwork on laptop covers, apparel, stickers, and more.

Source: “The Cuckoo’s Note” Laptop Skins by Sarah Vernon | Redbubble

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The Cuckoo’s Note Wristwatch | Zazzle #Sold!

My delight knows no bounds!

Style: Women’s Perfect Square Black Leather Strap Watch

With a style that is feminine and chic, the Women’s Perfect Square Leather watch features a gorgeous leather band and a fully customizable face for the most unique timepiece you’ll ever own.

• Women’s wrist watch
• Material:
  • Face: Alloy
  • Strap: Leather
• Dimensions:
  • Face: 0.944″diameter
  • Strap: 8.86″ x 0.7″
  • Case: 1.25″diameter
  • Weight: 0.107lb
• 3-hand analog Japan Quartz®
• Full color custom printing on face
• Buckle closure
• Shower proof only
• 1 year manufacturers limited warranty
• Battery included
• This product is recommended for ages 13+

Source: The Cuckoo’s Note Wristwatch | Zazzle

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Thanksgiving Rooster Kitchen Towel | Zazzle

Wish me luck for I’m seeing the hospital ophthalmologist today!

Original & vintage art © First Night Design [www.firstnightdesign.wordpress.com]

Source: Thanksgiving Rooster Kitchen Towel | Zazzle

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First Night Design | Chinese Empress on Her Throne #Repost

FROM THE ARCHIVE 13th May 2014

Chinese Empress on Her Throne © First Night Design

While I have not specified which empress this is in the title, she was actually the Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi  or Cixi (1835-1908) and one of the most formidable of figures. According to King’s…

Source: First Night Design | Chinese Empress on Her Throne | First Night Design

First Night Design | Autumn Fall #Art

Autumn Fall © Sarah Vernon Prints, Cards, Phone Cases, Attire, Home Decor & more… at Redbubble

This is an early effort that dates back to heaven knows when!

Autumn Fall © Sarah Vernon Pouches at Redbubble

Autumn Fall © Sarah Vernon Mugs at Redbubble

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“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables

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Autumn Fall © Sarah Vernon Spiral Notebooks at Redbubble

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“Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.”
― Albert Camus

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Available at the following galleries:
Redbubble
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK

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Yellow Illustrates Happiness #Repost

Roses are Golden by FirstNightDesign

FROM THE ARCHIVE 14th May 2013

A quick post to show some of my latest tinkering!  This image was created with vintage flowers from The Graphics Fairy and my own backgrounds and textures. I do…

Source: Yellow Illustrates Happiness

First Night Design | Accidental Abstract #Art

Buy Accidental Abstract Cushion © Sarah Vernon at Fine Art England

Created with my own photographs and scanned ephemera blended with a vintage architectural drawing from The Graphics Fairy.

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‘There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterward you can remove all traces of reality.’ Pablo Picasso

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Accidental Abstract Greeting Card

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‘The surrealists, and the modern movement in painting as a whole, seemed to offer a key to the strange postwar world with its threat of nuclear war. The dislocations and ambiguities, in cubism and abstract art as well as the surrealists, reminded me of my childhood in Shanghai.’ J. G. Ballard

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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 | The Cows Came Home … at last! #Art

Buy The Cows Came Home Avery Binder © Sarah Vernon at Zazzle

The background is from EKDuncan-My Fanciful Muse and the cows from The Graphics Fairy, which I blended with my textures. It’s a piece I made three or four years ago but only now have I uploaded it to all my galleries. It’s so much better than I thought now that I can see it with an eye no longer compacted by a cataract. The double vision is improving but those darned stitches have to stay in until the end of March at least.

Buy The Cows Came Home Hip Flask © Sarah Vernon at Zazzle

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“I could dance with you till the cows come home. On second thoughts, I’d rather dance with the cows till you come home.”
Groucho to Margaret Dumont in Duck Soup [1933]

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Buy The Cows Came Home Framed Print © Sarah Vernon at Crated

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 | 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 | Mirror Image #Art

Buy Mirror Image as a framed print @ Fine Art America © Sarah Vernon

Created with a map image from TanEphemeraKitchenLabels via Design Cuts, a texture from Lenabem-Anna J, and a lady and postcard back from The Graphics Fairy.

Buy Mirror Image Tote Bag @ Fine Art America © Sarah Vernon

What fun I had layering and putting together Mirror Image! Now, I’m not a symmetrical sort of person and I’m a great fan of asymmetrical clothing and so forth. In other words, I like misalignment in various guises. However, if something needs to be aligned and I’ve done it mathematically but it doesn’t look as if it is, I will adjust according to my overall view — perhaps not advisable when you have a cataract, but that’s how I’ve played it. This, however, was a test of my good right eye and there was a lot of squinting to get every element entirely aligned in order to create a mirror image. It was before the operation!

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

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First Night Design | Parrot in a Gilded Cage #Art ‘Don’t Even Think It!’

Parrot in a Gilded Cage Double-Sided Standard Business Cards (Pack Of 100) by FirstNightDesign

When I posted The Merry Widow image the other week, BeetleyPete assumed (it was a compliment) that I had coloured the central image. In fact, I hadn’t, and the colours were on the original Play Pictorial Cover. However, Parrot in a Gilded Cage is a different matter. The illustration is a black & white sketch from one of my vintage Children’s Encyclopaedia and I coloured it. So there you go, Pete!

Parrot Quote Greeting Card by FirstNightDesign

Available at the following galleries:
Zazzle US
Zazzle UK

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First Night Design | “I Can Resist Everything Except…” #Halloween

Vampire Quote Flasks

“I can resist everything except temptation.”

This was one of my very first designs, which I created by hand-colouring a vintage bat from my Picture Book of Animals.

Vampire Quote Greeting Card

Vampire Quote Long Apron

Vampire Quote Double-Sided Standard Business Cards (Pack Of 100)

Vampire Quote Journals

Vampire Quote Standard Cocktail Napkin

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First Night Design | ‘Happiness is a Butterfly’

‘Happiness is a Butterfly’ © Sarah Vernon Buy prints at Saatchi Art

‘Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.’ Nathaniel Hawthorne

‘I almost wish we were butterflies and liv’d but three summer days – three such days with you I could fill with more delight than fifty common years could ever contain.’ John Keats, Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

‘Butterflies are self-propelled flowers.’  Robert A. Heinlein

These butterflies are found in China, Japan, and Korea, and come from an image at  The Biodiversity Library. The soft background of flowers is adapted from a painting at the Rijksmuseum — I’m so thankful this inspiring museum allows artists to download some of their exhibits to merge them into our own work. The other texture, which includes the flowers bottom right of the image, is from Kerstin Frank.

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

Take care and keep laughing!