Wordless Wednesday - Beautiful Sunflower

Hello everyone,

Today is meant to be Wordless Wednesday where I post a photograph with no words to describe it but really I am not very good at being wordless so most of the posts end up as nearly wordless wednesdays.....doesn't quite have the same ring to it does it?!

Anyway, today I wanted to share with you all this sunflower photograph I took. I was walking in town and I this planted in someone's garden facing the street. I stopped to admire it and it made me smile so I thought it would be perfect to share on the blog with you all. I have always loved sunflowers as they remind me of my Granny. She was always full of fun and joy so a sunflower perfectly summed her up and they were her favourite flower. Every time I see one I think of her and my memories of her as a child. When I think of her I think of porridge, sunflowers, her songs and rhymes, humbugs, these dolphin ornaments she used to have and let us hold for a special treat (!!) , and playing with the ducks she bought us for the bath and how counting all the coins in her penny jar was the most fun game ever! She used to write little letters to us and draw sunflowers and little snails all around the edge of the paper which I loved getting as a little girl.

Hope this sunflower makes you smile as it has made me smile too!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Tuesday = Shop day (or so my new blogging schedule says!)

Hello everyone!

Well I am trying to stick to a new blogging schedule to make sure that I do actually blog as I my blog has been rather sadly neglected over the last few months and posts have been a bit few and far between! The world's most unorganised person (thats me if you didn't get where this was going...!) is trying to get organised and I decided that a blogging schedule was just the remedy. So I have decided Tuesday are going to be the day in which I show you what I have been up to in the shop and share any super exciting shop news! Wish me luck in trying to stick to this!!

The items from my shop that I am sharing today are my handmade tags. I have been super busy preparing new designs for the shop and also re-photographing some of my old designs (which I showed you a before and after shot on the post a few days ago).

I am rather pleased with how they have turned out and really like the new designs which I have in the shop.

Floral tea cup tags to match my vintage tea cups! I sell these in different sizes and do custom orders for any amount required but they are currently stocked in 10, 20 and 30

Mission was to make as many tea related items in my shop as possible! This is one of my new designs and I am really pleased with how it came out, so pretty! I thought these would be lovely for a vintage style wedding or a tea party! Stocking these in packs of 100 but also do custom orders for any amount

What do you all think? Do you like the new design and what do you think of the new shop photography?

The Dorothy Days Xx

5 facts about Vincent Van Gogh's Sunflowers

Sunflowers - Vincent Van Gogh - 1888 - Oil on Canvas

Hello everyone,

How are you all? 

Feel like I haven't had an art post in a while so I thought I would share with you all Vincent Van Gogh's sunflowers as it has been in the press a lot recently because of the National Gallery exhibition. This is an iconic painting and remains a fond favourite of many visitors to the National Gallery in London.

Van Gogh (1853-1890) was a Post Impressionist painter and is now one of the most well known painters in the world. 

*This version of Sunflowers hangs in the National Gallery in London

*Sunflowers was painted when Van Gogh moved to Arles in Provence while he was waiting for Paul Gauguin, a fellow painter who he admired to arrive. He dreamt of setting up a community of artists here in the yellow house that he rented and for Gauguin to be his mentor and work with him in an artistic partnership.

*There are seven paintings by Van Gogh of Sunflowers

*As you can see the majority of the painting is yellow. Yellow as a colour is usually associated with happiness and in the Netherlands is often a symbol of loyalty. This is perhaps another way of showing his happiness and excitement of Gauguin visiting and also his friendship and loyalty to him.

*The colours you see in the painting are also important because they were newly invented chemical colours; colbolt blue and chrome yellow. This gave Vincent a larger range of colour choice.