Art Filled Days

Sometimes when life gets busy we just seem to overlook things. I didn't think it was possible but problems with my PC, which are still not resolved, led to me totally getting out of the groove and neglecting both this site and Reusable Art. No posts or new pictures during the entire month of May? That didn't seem possible until I checked my notes.

In response to that unhappy discovery, I decided to really push hard this month to get at least 70 new pictures up. (My typical goal is 35 new free vintage images a month.) I got my groove back, as the saying goes, and ended up adding 88 new images.

In the course of adding all of those new free vintage images to Reusable Art, I also added four new categories.

Something totally different this week that flips reality and turns it into an interesting conversation piece. This image appeared in the children's magazine Harper's Young People in the November 25th, 1879 edition. It depicts the zoo as seen by a zoo-keeper in his nightmare. It's the people who are in cages and the animals who are doing the gazing.

This image is from our collection of images with a variety of animals that displays a selection of vintage illustrations that featured more than one type of animal.

The inverted zoo picture can be seen at its full size of 640 X 411 and is free to download and use on your own art and other creative projects.

This whimsical drawing was created by Frederick Stuart Church (1842-1924). Church loved using animals as the subjects in his work. He was known to spend many hours at the Central Park Zoo in New York City and Barnum & Bailey's headquarters. His time with elephants, ostrich and the other animals comes through in his work - he was known for anthropomorphic (giving animals human-like traits) animal works. A quick Google search led to several of his oil paintings that had been offered up for auction. The ones I saw all exceeded the auction house estimates by several hundred percent.

Today marked the day we finally began planting our vegetable garden. While the sun is brightly shining and the bees are humming, it seemed like the perfect day to honor a great vintage illustration that celebrates winter.

Harrison Weir (1824-1906) is the illustrator for this week's Picture of the Week. He has become one of my favorite illustrators and this image is certainly one of my favorites. With kids ice-skating (and even falling down), an old-fashioned ice-skating push sleigh (sorry have no idea what those types of sleighs were called), a woman gathering something (possibly mistletoe) this image has something for everyone who loves winter drawings, sleigh drawings, or silhouettes that would make a good Scherenschnitte (German paper-cutting) project.

To download the full-sized (417px X 277px) image, please visit Sleigh Ride Silhouette.

To view other wintry Sleigh Ride Drawings & Illustrations, please visit Reusable Art for Crafters.