Monday, December 28, 2015

For Jane Austen Month: a Special Wallpaper

Two portraits of Jane are incorporated into this desktop wallpaper design.

Please see all credits and red letter guidelines at the bottom of this post. Thank you.

This is a very special treat for me. As a former teacher of collage and book arts, I really enjoy trying anything new which allows me to dust off a few skills. As usual, collage for this project was a labor of love and a matter of trial and error, all in one.

The top right portrait of this month's heroine, Jane Austen, is actually a partially painted version of a drawing done by her sister, Cassandra. I chose this one, over all of the other options, for its softer coloration, which I thought might do well next to the browner tones of this wallpaper. I next chose to give it an antique oval frame which stayed within the color parameters of the design.

The house at the heart of this wallpaper is the Austen family home of Jane's childhood called Steventon Parsonage. This opened up the view for a second portrait of Jane by her sister, this one painted from behind the subject. I saw that she might view the house and some of her writing. As this was the last portrait anyone was ever able to make of Jane, I thought it fitting that she should be looking back fondly.

Next came the handwritten letter to her sister. As she and her sister were really quite close, I liked the idea of including one of Jane's own handwritten letters to Cassandra. Jane's signature was added later, as an afterthought.

Next came much fussing along with some further embellishment. What was at last settled on is what you see here. You will no doubt notice how this image is of a lower resolution than the usual used here at PPS. This was due to the fact that nearly every screen currently available can only show a resolution that is 72px. Anything too high tends to look nearly as bad as something of a far lower resolution might. It is also due to the lack of a need to ever print a copy of this wallpaper, which is intended only to decorate the view of a person's computer desktop, after all.

Today's Jane Austen Quote:

"How pleasant it is to spend an evening in this way! I declare after all there is no enjoyment like reading! How much sooner one tires of any thing than of a book! -- When I have a house of my own, I shall be miserable if I have not an excellent library."

~ Jane Austen 

Happy Jane Austen Month!


PPSWallpaper™: Jane Austen

Download 72px wallpaper HERE

Display version
(lower quality than the download)


Credits
Digital Brushes Used:
Ornate Borders by digitalartempire.com
Decorative Frames by Diana at brusheezy.com
(that one I could no longer locate at brusheezy)
Mask by Hilla29 at brusheezy.com (found!)
All others by obsidiandawn.com

You are free to:
Decorate your computer desktop
with this image.
You are not free to:
ever sell it for any reason.
Thank you
for helping me to
keep free things free!


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