Teddy Bear Valentine, Black & White Version

 

The Green Tiger Press reproduced several versions of this charming Valentine in its heyday. Today the black and white version is being featured. Illustrator, costume designer, and cartoonist Albertine Randall Wheelan (American, 1867-1954) created this Teddy Bear Valentine image for St. Nicholas Magazine.

Gardening by Jessie Willcox Smith

Gardening by Jessie Willcox Smith, originally uploaded by confections.

I've been delving into my vintage images from the Green Tiger Press lately in preparation for listing some in my Etsy shop. Jessie Willcox Smith's illustrations have always evoked nostalgia for childhood for me. This one is no exception. I am no gardener, I have no green thumb, but my Mother does. I see her in this image.

She and my father created many beautiful gardens at their various residences over the years. I will share images of them throughout the spring months.

When my Mom was visiting in March, we went to a favorite bookstore and I bought her a lovely gardening book with painterly photos of flowers--her joy.

I may have to dust off my Western Garden Book to see if I can make magic in my flower beds this season....

The Woodland Fairy

"The Woodland Fairy" is one of my favorite images that was reproduced by the Green Tiger Press back in the 1980's.

This black-and-white image by artist Ida Rentoul Outhwaite (1888 - 1960) is from "Bush Songs of Australia", published in 1910. A Melbourne, Victoria, Australia native, Outhwaite worked primarily in pen and ink and watercolor and one of her favorite subjects was fairies.

Here we have the barefoot Woodland Fairy, complete with butterfly wings and gossamer gown, seated on a vine swing and surrounded by blooms and a magnificent spider web.

Now available in very limited quantities in any one of my three online shops, Etsy, ArtFire, and LolliShops.