Pick of the Week

It's amazing how time can get away from you if you let it. I had every intention of posting a new picture on every Friday. After all, how hard could it be to sit down and write something about just one of the thousands of pictures on Reusable Art each week?

Somehow, two months have passed me by without talking about one of the great vintage images I get to play with. Since, it's been so long, I'll take a small liberty by showcasing an image that's been on Reusable Art for a while but still remains one of my favorites.

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.