Friday 30 March 2012

Art Nouveau Pop-up and some hints on finding Free Artwork

Today's card uses some of the work of Alphonse Mucha, a truly inspirational Czech artist of the Art Nouveau movement. If you want to learn more about him, there is lots of information on Wikipedia and a whole gallery of his images, all now out of copyright and freely printable, on Wikimedia Commons.

"Art Mystique"

The front of the card features a woman from a very famous travel poster "Monaco - Monte Carlo". All the women have been cut from printouts and shaped before attaching to the card. The backgrounds are made with distress inks, stamps, perfect pearls and lace.

"Inspiration Tree"

The trees are diecut from old cat food boxes and embossed with a woodgrain folder before decorating with distress inks and distress stickles. Only the trunks are attached to the card, leaving the branches hanging free. Tiny tags are inked and stamped with inspirational quotes before attaching to the branches. I love the way the branches form an arch above the woman's head in a form reminiscent of the Art Nouveau style.

"Pop-up!"

Tom tells me he like a card with a "wow" on the front, and a "WOW" inside. I hope this one does the trick! There are three separate pop-up elements and the two groups of people at the back are attached to the background with Pinflair dimensional glue to bring them away from the blue-green background.

"Ladies!"

The central figure in this group reminds me of my niece (hi Abs!). I just love the plate of chips amongst all the glamour :-).

Ingredients:
Sizzix Bigz XL pop-up tree
Sizzix Bigz Scallop pop-up
Sizzix Bigz Tiny Tabs and Tags
Spellbinders Nestabilities Labels
Distress Inks
Distress Stickles
Vintage Images by Alphonse Mucha from Wikimedia Commons
Adhesives: PVA, Pinflair Glue
Jump rings
Lace

Epilogue

Some time ago I was working on a card with some Graphic 45 stamps, and did some internet research wondering what colours would be good for trapeze artist costumes. I happened upon Wikimedia Commons which has thousands of copyright-free images, and came across a lot of the artwork upon which some of the Graphic 45 papers are based. If, like me, you like the papers but find them expensive, you can print off a lot of these images direct from Wikimedia and use them in your art comfortable in the knowledge that you are not breaking any copyright rules! I was surprised just how much of Graphic 45's "Le Cirque" artwork resembled real vintage circus posters such as this one, which you might like to compare to the artwork in the background on Graphic45's website here:

"Vintage Circus Poster from Wikimedia Commons"

Having discovered Wikimedia Commons, I carried on with my research. A lot of the images in the Graphic 45 "Steampunk Debutante" papers bear striking similarities to artwork by some well-known Art Nouveau artists, including Alphonse Mucha and Henri Privat-Livemont, and sadly I haven't noticed these artists being credited. If you're looking for good artwork to include on your cards, why not start with a trip to Wikimedia Commons and see what you can download for free?

Entered for the following challenge:
Gingersnap Creations - Last Century

8 comments:

  1. Love your cards they are brilliant will have to go have a look see at what I can find. Thanks for the tip. Alison xxx

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  2. I am definitely going to take a good bit of time going through Wikimedia Common now Maddy. And as you said, its very unfortunate when original artists arent given the credit when inspiration is taken from their works. I think it only polite to give credit where credit is due. Sadly "its all about the money" (la de da da dum dum da da da dum!!...that song is stuck in my noggin now!!). I LOVE this card. And you are most definitely the Queen of Cat Food pack die cuts, lol. The inside is just amazing too. Love this card. Lee xx

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  3. Your creations are wonderful, love all the details.

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  4. Good Morning,

    I was hoping to mail you but don'e see any addy so wondered if you could mail me brenda@ibas.co.uk when you get a moment.

    B x

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  5. Have mailed you Brenda. Maddy x

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  6. That is one cool pop-up! Love all your vintage images!

    Thanks for playing the Last Century Challenge at Gingersnap Creations! Don't forget to come back and vote for your favorite entry once the challenge closes!

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  7. Fabulous, fabulous card! LOVE your images--the one popped up in the center is gorgeous!!! :)

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  8. Another wonderful creation. Love Kathy xx

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Thanks for leaving a comment, it's nice to know I'm not just talking to myself :)