Browse Expensive, Buy Cheap!

I was looking at some high priced tshirts the other day, and realized that the difference between them and the ones you can buy on the web, at shops like my own and the others listed on the right, is pretty negligible.  That led me to do some comparison shopping. Here's what I came up with:

At Neiman Marcus,

John Varvatos Star USA
Peace Graphic Knit Tee, Gray  $88

At Scarebaby Design, a Cafepress Shop
Peace tee 100% cotton, $26.99

From Bloomingdales, John Varvatos USA Peace Rocks Tee  Currently on sale for $46.80

At Scarebaby Design, a Cafepress Shop:

Purple PEACE NOW Fingers Shirt  $21.99

Check out thousands more tshirts at reasonable prices by clicking the links on the right!

Did You Know?

Did you know that the Metropolitan Museum of Art has a program that allows free download of thousands of art images, for non-commercial use?  It's part of a trend among prestigious museums, who recognize that their purpose -- to showcase fine art -- is enhanced by making art available to everyone.

Artist: Carlo Pellegrini (Italian, Capua 1839–1889 London)

Sitter: Portrait of James McNeill Whistler (American, Lowell, Massachusetts 1834–1903 London)

Date: 1881

The program, titled Open Access for Scholarly Content (OASC), provides high resolution digital images of public domain works held by the museum.  You could easily spend a full day or even longer just browsing the online collections they offer.  From Whistler (beyond his mother) to Goya, Georgia O'Keefe, Sargent, and Rembrandt, to Impressionists, Native American art, and more, it's a feast for the senses.

Obviously, you cannot (without permission and a fee) use the downloaded art for commercial purposes such as reselling on prints, cards, etc.

Visit the FAQ page for important information.

Canada Day and 4th of July Freebies

I have some great images for you to download to help celebrate Canada Day and 4th of July Holidays.  First is a terrific Canada Coat of Arms graphic and a map of Canada with the Canadian flag as an overlay image on it.

Here are two terrific Patriotic USA  graphics for your projects. The first is the American flag in color with text art saying Happy 4th of July. The second image is a vintage US soldier with raised arm holding the American flag.

Happy Canada Day and 4th of July to all you Canadians and Americans out there from us at Graphics Genie.

Lovely public domain line art featured today. Download this black and white floral circle with graceful swirled leaves. Then save this second circle design too. This one features a graceful circle motif with an Orient look. Both would be wonderful decorative touches for many craft projects.

Lovely vintage display of various toadstools, mushrooms and other fungi in color. Makes a nice reference if printed, or cut the various images out for decoupage and other art and craft projects.

Fact...There’s no scientifically accepted difference between a mushroom and a toadstool. You sometimes see the term being used interchangeably to refer to the same types of fungus. Most of the time though, people are using the name toadstool to refer to the inedible varieties.

Another interesting fact...The name Toadstool dates back to the 14th Century. Sometimes recorded as "tadstoles". Toadstools were thought to be favored places for Toads to sit. Toads were considered poisonous and diseased. This was then transferred they thought by the Toad to the Toadstool.

Today's Freebie: Vintage Image from the Betty Fairy Book

Today's vintage image is from The Betty Fairy Book of 1915.

It depicts a winged ship with a little fairy in green.  The original illustration was whiter and brighter than this vintage image, which was taken directly from my copy of the original book.  I chose not to try to brighten it in photoshop, because I like the vintage look.  But if you want to do so, feel free.

The poem is part of the larger story of the book.  It's such a pretty illustration, done by Margaret Evans Price, who, incidentally, was one of the later founders of Fisher-Price Toys!

The Betty Fairy Book was written by Helen E. Flint in 1915.  It tells the story of a little girl who unintentionally angers the fairies, by finding a  fairy crown and dancing on fairy land.  The fairies banish her to the boat pictured above.  I wouldn't mind a sail on that pretty thing!

Anyway, the story ends happily, both for Betty and the fairies.

We'll be offering more illustrations from this lovely vintage children's book in the near future. In the meantime, enjoy this one, and feel free to download and use for your own purposes.

Here are two free seamless tile patterns for you to download. These designs are opposite in style. The top tile is abstract and has a flowing feel to it in purple, blue and green. While the bottom vintage pattern is a daffodil floral in white, gold and green, with a very stylized look.  Both are lovely in their own way. Right click on each of these to save to your computer.

Antique French Harlequin or "Pantine" Paper Doll

A new antique image this week for you to add to your collection.

Pantin is French for Jumping-Jack Puppet, which was popular in 1700's French Courts. They were made on various materials, from paper to wood.

Download this fun Vintage Harlequin puppet figure. Then print for your papercraft projects.

Harlequin Puppet Cut-Out

Persuasion is Better than Force

We came across a lovely edition of Aesop's Fables by V.S. Vernon Jones, from 1912, with illustrations by the great Arthur Rackham (1867 -1939).  Rackham was famous for his pen and ink drawings that combined the use of India ink, often with subtle watercolor washes.

This particular drawing illustrated a fable called "The North Wind and the Sun."  In the artwork, the North Wind is blowing at full force, while the sun, with a somewhat evil grin, waits his turn to prove his strength and power.  Of course, all of Aesop's fables had a lesson to be learned, and the lesson of this brief fable was "Persuasion is better than force."

Pity the poor traveler who is the chosen target of the dispute between the north wind and the sun!  He looks right miserable!

Here's the fable in its entirety:

.THE NORTH WIND AND THE SUN

A dispute arose between the North Wind and the Sun, each claiming that he was stronger than the other. At last they agreed to try their powers upon a traveller, to see which could soonest strip him of his cloak. The North Wind had the first try; and, gathering up all his force for the attack, he came whirling furiously down upon the man, and caught up his cloak as though he would wrest it from him by one single effort: but the harder he blew, the more closely the man wrapped it round himself. Then came the turn of the Sun. At first he beamed gently upon the traveller, who soon unclasped his cloak and walked on with it hanging loosely about his shoulders: then he shone forth in his full strength, and the man, before he had gone many steps, was glad to throw his cloak right off and complete his journey more lightly clad.

Persuasion is better than force

We'll share more images from this lovely book in the near future.  The illustration above can be enlarged by clicking on it, so you can see the cool detail and the distinctive strokes that were a hallmark of Rackham's illustrative style.

As far as we know, this image is in the public domain, but as always, do your own research before you decide to use it, especially if you plan to use it for commercial purposes.

If you enjoy our blog, please leave us a comment.  We're new and we want to hear from you!

Keyboard Hacks and Tricks

We received a cool article today from Refinery29, the lifestyle blog. It's all about how to make your life just a little easier with keyboard tricks (what the cool kids call hacks these days).  I knew a few of them, but others were new to me, and might be new to you as well.  Some of them are for Mac users, so if you use a Mac, don't tune out just yet!

One set of keyboard shortcuts that I found particularly useful are the Twitter ones:

Tap N for a new tweet, R to reply, F to favorite a tweet, and T to retweet something. If you’re using the Twitter Mac app, it’s pretty similar. While you can type simply an F to fave something, for all the other shortcuts, hit Command at the same time (so, a new tweet is Command+N, and so on).

Pretty cool, huh? 

Blue on Blue Swirl Pack Of Standard Business Cards by PerfectBusinessCards
See other Biz Business Cards

Then there's this simple fact:  

By tapping Command+F at the same time on a Mac (that is, the Command button and F button at the same time) or Control+F on a PC, you can search for a word on a webpage or document. 
You can find the whole article with all the tips right here.  

  The Release by F. Earnest Jackson, color lithograph/woodblock.  Date unknown, but believed to be in public domain. Lovely vintage art shows a young woman  beside a tree,. standing with upraised arms and empty birdcage at her feet.

Arthur Thiele was the son of an instrument maker. Best known for his fabulous anthropomorphic art, he created an abundance of fun art with pigs, geese and other animals.  He was, however, best known for his comical depictions of cats and dachshunds. He also illustrated childrens' books.  

I love his artwork, and would like to share this adorable scruffy kitten with you.  If you've never seen his work I hope this freebie will encourage you to search it out.

First Freebie!

Today we offer our first freebie!  This gorgeous little artwork is from an antique children's primer called "Happy Go Lucky".  It depicts a young girl named "Miss Effie" having a violin lesson.  There is a poem that goes with this cute image, and I'll reproduce it below

 

Feel free to use this image for your own projects, commercial or not.  It is in the public domain, to the best of my knowledge.  Click the image to see it in its full beauty!
Here's the poem associated with Miss Effie's cute illustration:
"Miss Effie waiting to begin
To play upon her violin; --
If she with skill would learn to play,
Hard must she study every day.
    Though dry and hard are knowledge's roots
    Fragrant and sweet will be its fruits."