PUT ON YOUR CHRISTMAS COAT

Christmas, that time of the year when we become more humble and think, or try to, of our loved ones,  friends, relatives, vague acquaintances, long lost lovers, business partners etc. who in the daily rat race of our wild and exotic lives get stored away in the back of the closet of our minds and now all of a sudden gain a tad more importance, if only for a short while.

Charity is indeed a coat you wear twice a year, so who gets the first card and who gets the last?

Baby, it's cold outside, heartwarming illustrations from top left clockwise; father christmas wishing joyeux noel by Ralph Hulett, christmas cover  by Sempe for the New Yorker, illustration by Robert Wagt of a fashion model dressed as a christmas tree, illustration by Tom Schamp of  Jacques Tati dressed up as a christmas tree, christmas illustration by the late great  Leonard Weisgard,  French illustrator Annette Marnat's buche de noel, little boy decorating a christmas tree by  Fiep Westendorp and a modern christmas tree illustration by Ellen Giggenbach.

THIN ICE

The thinner the ice, the more anxious is everyone to see whether it will bear.

COOL COLOURED CATS

Cats seem to spend most of their time curled up in a ball in a state of semi consciousness on their and yours favorite spot on the sofa, hesitating between going to eat or heading for the litter box. That can change in the blink of an eye when our four-legged friend notices something out of the ordinary and most likely not to his taste, our mouser will travel with the speed of light trough the confined space of your living room and will only then go back to slumberland, when the intruder is way out of sight. Enough excitement for the day.

               

               

               

       

What's new pussycat ? From top left, clockwise; angry cat drawing by French illustrator Tomi Ungerer, illustration by Robert Wagt of a cat getting warm in front of a stove, illustration by famous Belgian advertising poster designer Julian Key of a black cat coffee pot, illustration by Yoko Tanji of a cat and a bird, illustration by British illustrator Ronald Searle of a fat cat sleeping on a balcony, dj cat illustration by Pepe Shimada, illustration for a Marchal advertisement of a cat in a car by French illustrator Jean Colin, illustration of a cat by Maurice Sendak from his book "the moon jumpers", a cat  in the snow illustration by Wolf Erlbruch and  Väinö Rouvinen's  illustration of a cat  playing in the snow.

LET IT SNOW

Snow-flakes

Out of the bosom of the Air,

      Out of the cloud-folds of her garments shaken,

Over the woodlands brown and bare,

      Over the harvest-fields forsaken,

            Silent, and soft, and slow

            Descends the snow.

Even as our cloudy fancies take

      Suddenly shape in some divine expression,

Even as the troubled heart doth make

      In the white countenance confession,

            The troubled sky reveals

            The grief it feels.

This is the poem of the air,

      Slowly in silent syllables recorded;

This is the secret of despair,

      Long in its cloudy bosom hoarded,

            Now whispered and revealed

            To wood and field.

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW

          

       

             

Walking in a winter wonderland, with from top left, clockwise; famous dutch children's illustrator Fiep Westendorp , Robert Wagt's boys in a winter landscape, an illustration by David Dean, japanese illustraor Yusuke Yonezu , a vintage illustration by Ralph Hulett, a beautiful snowman illustration from a vintage german wool ad, who else then children's author Richard Scarry and a book cover by Yuri Vasnetsov.

THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER

"I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I do know how to count" (Mickey Gilley), from a circus themed counting book for kids, the number 9.

A PARADE OF CIRCUS ILLUSTRATIONS

Time is a circus, always packing up and moving away.

 

 

 

"Freaks were in a circus tent, those were the days" from top left clockwise; woman jumping a hoop by Marie Lafrance, circus elephant spinning  plates by Robert Wagt, Patrick Hruby's circus illustration, vintage poster art by Vladimir Lebedev, Naomi Wilkinson's trapeze duo, Fernando Botero's tightrope walker, a vintage soviet circus poster by L.Modina and a wonderful example of Polish poster art.