Animal Acrobatics

Alice Potter, Harry on Ball

Dorothy Lathrop, The Fairy Circus, 1931

Alice and Martin Provensen, The Golden Circus, 1950

Jerzy Flisak, movie poster, 1965

Carlos Marchiori, Sally Go Round the Sun, 1969, 

via my vintage book collection (in blog form)

Bill Charmatz, The Cat's Whiskers, 1969

William Pène du Bois, Bear Circus, 1971

Bill Peet

The 1975 Childcraft Anual, thanks to Flamenconut

Nicole Claveloux, Animaux étranges, 1993

Ian Falconer, Olivia saves the Circus

Ofra Amit

Kevin Sloan

Julian de Narvaez

Gonçalo Viana

Spider

Yusuke Yonezu

Jennifer Davis

Chamo

Séverin Millet

Basking in the Light

Žabáček, 1982

The loveliness of the first sunny days of this late-coming Spring inspired me to post some pictures

from the gentle green worlds of Czech artist Jan Kudláček. Born in 1928 in Moravia and living in Prague, 

Kudláček is a painter, graphic artist, and above all an award winning illustrator who since 1963

has published almost a hundred children's books. His distinctive style and brushwork technique 

convey a vibrant and luminous quality to his joyful and poetic illustrations of nature,

 flowers, small animals and fairytale creatures. 

Petruschka, 1970

Holčička a déšt' (A Little Girl and Rain), 1974, thanks to Arthur van Kruining

Svatba v rybníce (Wedding in a pond), 1982, 

all photos thanks to micky the pixel

Svatba v rybníce, 1982

 Zlatý proutek (Golden Wand), 1983

 Jussi ja kalat, 1989

Pohádková lampička (Fairy-tale lamp), 1992

Pohádky pro skřítka Hajaju (Tales for Sprites), 1995 

Smiles and Tiles

Kenneth Townsend (1931-99) was a British artist and freelance designer 

based in Hastings. His humorous pictures were utilized by various companies

 to decorate pottery, textiles, children's games, and glass trays.

He also illustrated six books, one of which,the 1968 children's book 

Felix the bald-headed lion, was written by him.

The animals on the tiles of the "Menagerie" series are among Townsend's 

most famous designs. There are around 25 different tile designs,

including the ones shown in this gallery.

The games designed by Townsend look delightful, too...

Marble Fun, a scoring game by Merit

Tiles from Remember, Remember, a memory game by Galt Toys.

As you can see, some of them are very similar to the ceramic tile designs.

Townsend's work is still popular and loved by many, especially in Britain. 

Thanks to Hazel Terry for the discovery, and to the members of the flickr group 

"Lovers of Kenneth Townsend's work" for uploading a majority of the images in this post.