'return a list of child artists'

def get_children(self):

    children = []
    children.extend(self.collections)
    children.extend(self.patches)
    children.extend(self.lines)
    children.extend(self.texts)
    children.extend(self.artists)
    children.extend(six.itervalues(self.spines))
    children.append(self.xaxis)
    children.append(self.yaxis)
    children.append(self.title)
    children.append(self._left_title)
    children.append(self._right_title)
    children.extend(self.tables)
    children.extend(self.images)
    if (self.legend_ is not None):
        children.append(self.legend_)
    children.append(self.patch)
    return children
