Thursday, 5 June 2014

This or That Thursday - Dogs vs Cats

Hello!

I thought it would be fun to bring a new feature to the blog so I was picking my brains for new ideas and came up with this, This or That Thursday. I have lots of fun asking my followers on Twitter a question for the day so I thought this would be a fun extension of that and also means that I get to play around with pretty pictures and design lovely graphics (what could be better?!)

Hope that you will enjoy this feature. Please comment below with you response.

To kick things off here is a classic this or that.....

Photo Credit thanks to - Zaimoku_woodpile and digital_image_fan
The Dorothy Days Xx

Tuesday, 3 June 2014

Working on improving my product photography!

Hello everyone!

I can't believe it is actually June! The weather certainly isn't that of June weather but I am hoping for some sunshine soon!

I thought I would share with you all today some things I have been working on over in my shop. A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to take part in an online photography webinar which taught me how to take better product photographs. I am still at the experimentation stage but already have seen improvements in my photographs which is really exciting!

Example of a before photograph....


This really does not show off my tags very well at all! The colour doesn't look correct, the lighting is poor and the angle makes the tag look a little odd!

After photograph:

Still a work in progress and there is still lots I can improve with this photograph but it is MUCH better than the previous photograph so I think I am on the right tracks! I took this photograph on a day that the weather wasn't great and the sunflowers cheered me up! One of my Twitter followers suggested I use a rose next time which I loved the idea of so will be doing soon (thanks for the suggestion!).

Please click here to view in my shop

What do you all think of the new and improved photograph? and do you have any other suggestions for improvement?

Best wishes
The Dorothy Days

Thursday, 1 May 2014

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.

Thursday, 10 April 2014

Dorset Team craft fair

Hey everyone,

How did it get to April!? Been so busy over the last few weeks working on the Dorset Team which I run. Since I got back from Berlin for the summit I have made lots of changes to the team and it is exciting how fast things within the team are changing and the progress that has been made in just a few weeks. Also wonderful to see members getting more involved with the team and helping out with the running of it.  There are lots of exciting projects and team events in the pipeline.

Our next team event is the Dorset Team craft fair in May. I am not selling there myself but instead will be there to talk to people about Dorset Team and to spread the word. I can't wait! We have 40 amazing stalls booked, some from Dorset Team members and a few from other local artists and crafters. Going to be such a range of amazing items for sale.

If you are nearby please pop in and say hello and have a browse! Entry is free.




The Dorothy Days Xx