Squirrels on parade!

Ladies and gentlemen, apologies for the disgraceful lack of posts during 2015 but like all good squirrels, I felt the need to curl myself up into a little furry ball and sleep the year away.

And boy oh boy do I feel all the better for it :)
So without further ado, enjoy this veritable feast of beautiful squirrel images by artists old and new...

Kelly Vivanco

http://www.kellyvivanco.com/

Theodor Kittelsen

http://www.theodorkittelsen.no/en/

Molly Brett
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Brett

Rene Cloke

http://cuteanimalart.blogspot.co.uk/2010/12/rene-cloke-1905-1995.html

https://uk.pinterest.com/lynnkatie90/rene-cloke/

Rene Cloke

Vintage Christmas card

Andrew Hutchinson

http://www.andrewhutchinson.co.uk/

Anne Patzke

http://trenchmaker.blogspot.co.uk/

Emily Martin

http://www.emilywinfieldmartin.com/

Vintage Russian postcard

Ray Shuell

http://rayshuell.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.paintinfrance.eu/gallerynew.html

Arthur Rackham

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Rackham

http://arthur-rackham-society.org/

Margaret W. Tarrant

http://www.medici.co.uk/c/64/Margaret-Tarrant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Tarrant

Gustaf Tenggren

http://www.gustaftenggren.com/tenggren/

Yuri Vasnetsov

http://allrus.me/soviet-russian-artist-yuri-vasnetsov/

Chiaki Okada

Brian Wildsmith

http://www.brianwildsmith.com/

Sophie Corrigan

http://www.sophiecorrigan.com/

Beatrix Potter

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrix_Potter

http://beatrixpottersociety.org.uk/

Celestino Piatti

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestino_Piatti

David Gothard

http://www.davidgothard.com

Vintage book cover

Lady Red & Lord Grey on Riverside Books
By Mayfifth1935 Designs

https://www.facebook.com/Mayfifth1935Designs/

https://twitter.com/Mayfifth1935

Lady Red & Lord Grey on a Squirrel's Grand Tour

Also by Mayfifth1935 Designs

Dorothy M. Wheeler

Image courtesy of the Enid Blyton Society

Image courtesy of the Enid Blyton Society

I've always been interested in children's illustrators and my all time favourite will always be Margaret Tarrant. However, Dorothy M Wheeler is a recent discovery and her illustrations of Enid Blyton’s books are adorable. The large image above is her cover for The Folk of the Faraway Tree and I remember reading this for the first time when I was about seven or eight and stuck in bed with measles. It is a story bursting with silliness and magic but essentially about friendship and learning to give second chances. The copy I still have is a much more garish [yet lovely] 1960s edition but I do love Wheeler’s version and [ahem!] the real reason for this post is perched halfway up the tree in all his bushy tailed GLORY. I remember in the book that the red squirrel’s job was to collect all the cushions from the foot of the slide [at the base of the tree] in a big basket and carry them back up to the top so everyone could use them to slide down – the slide spiralled down through the inside of the tree trunk. Well, I love him to bits and also love that Wheeler popped little squirrels into quite a lot of her pictures [see utterly cute example] so watch this space as I may well post more of her squirrel work J

Rupert's little friend

Image courtesy of RupertAnnuals.com

How lovely is this Rupert Bear annual?
Now take a closer look at the attentive, plucky wee fellow on the right - is he not the cutest little red you ever did see?

To be honest, I was never a great fan when I was little - Rupert was alright and even as a child I appreciated the beautiful annuals [although nothing would ever match my beloved and unashamedly girly Twinkle books] but there wasn't much humour in the stories as there was with say Winnie the Pooh and Paddington Bear and he did have some really wierd friends like that hideous little twiggy thing that must surely still be the stuff of night mares to any child? I refuse to even post a picture of it here to illustrate my point - look it up and you'll see.

Rupert was originally created as a comic strip for the Daily Express during the 1920s by Mary Tourtel but when she retired the artist Alfred Bestall took over and he is responsible for these delightful annual covers. He tended to put the same characters on the covers so this squirrel shows up quite a bit.

There's a heart felt homage to Rupert here on Brian Sibley’s blog that also contains a link to a Chris Beetles’ sale  in November last year that contained some of Bestall's works along with all manner of other gorgeous illustrations [The Illustrators 1837-2011].

So here’s to the bushy-tailed, wide-eyed, flame-furred, little scamp clutching at his branch and gazing in adoration at dear old Rupert – Squirrel Library salutes you :-)