Vintage Art Appreciation: Madame Lerolle by Henri Fantin-Latour

Stephen kissed me in the spring,
Robin in the fall,
But Colin only looked at me
And never kissed at all.

Stephen’s kiss was lost in jest,
Robin’s lost in play,
But the kiss in Colin’s eyes
Haunts me night and day.
― Sara Teasdale, The Collected Poems

Altered version of a painting titled "Madame Lerolle," originally painted in 1882 by Henri Fantin-Latour (1836–1904). You can find the image of the original painting at the Cleveland Museum of Art's site or you can download my digitally enhanced version of the painting as a 12" x 16.5" @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Simply print and frame for tabletop or wall artI but could also be used as a cover for a journal or scrapbooking project.


Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Free Illustrated Template for Graphic Design, Journaling or Scrapbooking: Free to Fly

The truth will set you free. But not until it is finished with you.
― David Foster Wallace, Infinite Jest

Some birds are not meant to be caged, that's all.
Their feathers are too bright, their songs too sweet and wild.
So you let them go, or when you open the cage to feed them they somehow fly out past you.
And the part of you that knows it was wrong to imprison them in the first place rejoices,
but still, the place where you live is that much more drab and empty for their departure.
― Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption

Ilustrated template featuring antique paper and a Victorian lady allowing a bird to fly free from its cage. Download and print for announcements, invitations, journaling, scrapbooking or other design projects with a vintage nature theme.You can download the high-res 12" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


All pre-made templates by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Botanical Illustration for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Bouvardia 'Alfred Neuner'

It's faith in something and enthusiasm for something
that makes a life worth living.
― Oliver Wendell Holmes

Enthusiasm spells the difference between mediocrity and accomplishment.
― Norman Vincent Peale

Botanical illustration from late 1890s showing Bouvardia 'Alfred Neuner,' a flowering shrub with double, white flowers slightly tinged with rose. Encyclopaedia description also lists other varieties such as BRILLIANT, DAZZLER, HOGARTH, LONGIFLORA FLAMMEA, MAIDEN'S BLUSH, PRESIDENT GARFIELD, QUEEN OF ROSES, and VREELAND.

Bouvardia is a species that enjoys full sun and is attractive to hummingbirds. The genus is named in honor of Charles Bouvard (1572–1658), physician to Louis XIII, and superintendent of the Jardin du Roi in Paris. In the language of flowers, Bouvardia symbolize enthusiasm.

You can download this vintage botanical illustration as a free high-res 5" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Great for collage art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

My Photo Journal: Sunlight (1)

Don't be ashamed to weep; 'tis right to grieve.
Tears are only water, and flowers, trees, and fruit cannot grow without water.
But there must be sunlight also.
A wounded heart will heal in time, and when it does,
the memory and love of our lost ones is sealed inside to comfort us.
― Brian Jacques, Taggerung

Botanical photo showing three yellow echinacea (coneflowers). Possibly Sombrero Lemon Yellow. or Echinacea purpurea ‘Mellow Yellows’. Available as a high-res download here.

Photos © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Free Aged Paper Background for Graphic Design, Journaling, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Bees in the Meadow Poem and English Meadow Landscape Illustration

BEES IN THE MEADOW
by MRS. SANGSTER
Bees in the meadow,
Birds on the bough,
Bloom on the hill-side ―
Play-time is now.

Stones in the pasture,
Weeds in the bed;
Haying and harvest,
Hard work ahead.

Loud sings the robin,
"If you'd be gay,
Take the work, lad
The heart of the play."

Aged paper background with a combination of different vintage scraps, including a nature poem from 1881 and an illustration of an English meadow from 1887. You can download the free high-res 8.5" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here for graphic design, journaling, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects.


All pre-made templates by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Illustrated Templates for Graphic Design, Journaling or Scrapbooking: Recipe Cards with Vintage Illustrations of Kale

I promise you nothing is as chaotic as it seems.
Nothing is worth diminishing your health.
Nothing is worth poisoning yourself into stress, anxiety, and fear.
― Steve Maraboli, Unapologetically You: Reflections on Life and the Human Experience

If you feel like making something healthy this weekend, here are a couple of recipe card templates to help you jot down your cooking notes and thoughts. The cards feature two vintage botabical illustrations of kale from c1900. The first variety of borecole is a dwarf green curled Scotch kale. Borecole has very frizzy curled deep green leaves held on sturdy plants which need no staking.The older larger leaves will be more bitter so best to use only young leaves. You can find a simple borecole and potato salad recipe here.

The second recipe card features a variety of borecole known as "brown curled kale." I still see seeds for brown varieties of lettuce but I have never come across seeds for a brown kale. This may be an heirloom variety that has died out as it became unpopular? If anyone knows of a supplier, please feel free to leave a note in the comments. Here is a delicious-sounding recipe for kale with browned butter, garlic and pan-fried walnuts.

You could print the cards for recipes but you might also use them for gift tags, invitations, journaling or scrapbooking.You can find the free high-res 7" x 5" @ 300 ppi JPEGs without a watermark here.


All pre-made templates by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

My Photo Journal: Iridescent (1)

"Some of us get dipped in flat, some in satin, some in gloss...."
He turned to me. "But every once in a while, you find someone who's iridescent,
and when you do, nothing will ever compare.”
― Wendelin Van Draanen, Flipped

Flower photo featuring Lilium Lily Looks™ Tiny Padhye. These dwarf Asiatic lilies were developed in the Netherlands and were intended for containers. I have planted them in front of my rock garden where they are partially in shade. They seem to be doing quite well!

Photos © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Free Vintage Botanical Illustration for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Lilies 2

Don't let the expectations and opinions of other people affect your decisions.
It's your life, not theirs. Do what matters most to you;
do what makes you feel alive and happy.
Don't let the expectations and ideas of others limit who you are.
If you let others tell you who you are, you are living their reality — not yours.
There is more to life than pleasing people.
There is much more to life than following others' prescribed path.
There is so much more to life than what you experience right now.
You need to decide who you are for yourself. Become a whole being. Adventure.
― Roy T. Bennett

Botanical illustration of eight lilies. Lilies are numbered as follows: Topmost lily (5); second row left (2), second row right (3); centre left (6), centre middle (1), centre right (4); bottom left (7), bottom right (5).

You can download this vintage botanical illustration as a free high-res 9" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Great for collage art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Botanical Illustration for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Lilies 1

Write it on your heart you are the most beautiful soul of the Universe.
Realize it, honor it and celebrate the life.
― Amit Ray, Nonviolence: The Transforming Power

To think what is true, to sense what is beautiful and to want what is good,
hereby the spirit finds purpose of a life in reason.
― Johann Gottfried Herder

Botanical illustration of four lilies. From the top, first lily on the left is Lilium japonicum or Japan Lily; second lily (on the right) in Lilium lanceolatum or the Lanceolate-leaved Lily; third lily down (on the left) is Lilium speciosum or the Showy Lily; last lily on the bottom right is Lilium thunbergianum or Thunberg's Lily.You can read more detailed descriptions below:

You can download this vintage botanical illustration as a free high-res 9" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Great for collage art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

My Photo Journal: Beautiful (1)

It's not my responsibility to be beautiful.
I'm not alive for that purpose.
My existence is not about how desirable you find me.
― Warsan Shire

Flower photo featuring a light pink rose in summer sunlight. Available as a high-res download here.

Photos © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

My Photo Journal: Come Into the Light

COMING FORTH INTO THE LIGHT

I was born the day
I thought:
What is?
What was?
And
What if?

I was transformed the day
My ego shattered,
And all the superficial, material
Things that mattered
To me before,
Suddenly ceased
To matter.

I really came into being
The day I no longer cared about
What the world thought of me,
Only on my thoughts for
Changing the world.
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun
Park bench beside a meandering path at the Oshawa Valley Botanical Garden, surrounded by evergreen and deciduous trees in summertime.

Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Vintage Art Appreciation: Geraniums by Childe Hassam

Summer is a period of luxurious growth.
To be in harmony with the atmosphere of summer,awaken early in the morning
and reach to the sun for nourishment to flourish as the gardens do.
Work, play, travel, be joyful, and grow into selfless service.
The bounty of the outside world enters and enlivens us.
― Paul Pitchford, Healing With Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition

Altered vintage painting titled "Geraniums" by Childe Hassam (1859–1935). You can find the image of the original painting on Wikimedia here and you can download my digitally enhanced version of the painting as a 8.5" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Simply print and frame for tabletop or wall artI but could also be used as a cover in a garden journal or scrapbooking project.


Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

My Photo Journal: Maple in Sunlight and Shade

How can I be substantial if I do not cast a shadow?
I must have a dark side also If I am to be whole.
― C.G. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul

So don't be frightened, dear friend,
if a sadness confronts you larger than any you have ever known,
casting its shadow over all you do.
You must think that something is happening within you,
and remember that life has not forgotten you;
it holds you in its hand and will not let you fall.
Why would you want to exclude from your life any uneasiness,
any pain, any depression,
since you don't know what work they are accomplishing within you?
― Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters to a Young Poet

A mature maple tree (Acer) casting a shadow as the sun shines against its back.

Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Vintage Art Appreciation: A Spanish Garden by Martín Rico

I almost wish we were butterflies and liv'd but three summer days
― three such days with you I could fill with more delight
than fifty common years could ever contain.
― John Keats, Bright Star: Love Letters and Poems of John Keats to Fanny Brawne

A tale begun in other days,
When summer suns were glowing ―
A simple chime, that served to time
The rhythm of your rowing ―
Whose echoes live in memory yet,
Though envious years would say 'forget.'
― Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There

Altered vintage painting titled "A Spanish Garden" by Martín Rico (1833 – 1908). You can find the image of the original painting on Wikimedia here and you can download my digitally enhanced version of the painting as a 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Simply print and frame for tabletop or wall artI but could also be used as a cover in a garden journal or scrapbooking project.


Digitally enhanced reproductions of public domain fine art are shared under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Free Vintage Outdoor Illustration for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Ladies with Wildflowers Set 1

I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine.
― William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Vintage illustrations of two ladies in outdoor settings who have just gathered bundles of wildflowers.You can download theese images as a free 12" x 12" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

My Photo Journal: Linden Leaves in Sunlight

leave me a smile
just warm enough...
to spend a million
golden afternoons in.
― Sanober Khan, Turquoise Silence

Happiness is not found in anything,
nor can it be achieved by any means;
It is a state of being your true self,
It is your very nature;
Happiness lies in self-knowledge.
― Shiva Negi

Newly emerged foliage of the little-leaf linden (Tilia cordata) glowing in the spring sunlight.

Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Free Illustrated Template for Graphic Design, Journaling or Scrapbooking: Kids in the Garden 1

However many years she lived,
Mary always felt that she should never forget
that first morning when her garden began to grow.
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden
Two-page illustrated template featuring Victorian children in the garden. Download and print for announcements, invitations, journaling, scrapbooking or other design projects with a vintage garden theme.You can find the high-res 11" x 8.5" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


All pre-made templates by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

My Photo Journal: White/Pink and Pink/Yellow Garden Peonies

Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty.
Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
― Franz Kafka
Showy and fragrant Paeonia lactiflora 'Do Tell'. Heirloom variety, first exhibited in 1946. Vigorous bloomer.
We applaud in silent awe
at how something as simple
as the alignment of
water
trees
light
creates a masterpiece
every single day,
just by existing.
― Heidi Barr, Cold Spring Hallelujah

Beauty of whatever kind, in its supreme development,
invariably excites the sensitive soul to tears.
― Edgar Allan Poe

Still waiting to identify this variety. Possibly Paeonia lactiflora 'Bowl of Beauty' or 'Raspberry Sorbet'?

Photos © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Free Vintage Outdoor Illustration for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: The Water-Lilies

If you wish to prove your ability to love, you must go on living
and show that you can sacrifice every day, in the small things as well as the big.
― Melanie Cellier, A Tale of Beauty and Beast
Vintage outdoor illustration of a father gathering water-lilies for his daughter. You can download theis vintage illustration as a free 10" x 8" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

My Photo Journal: Abstract Views of the Common Pepperweed

If you pursue happiness, you are an ordinary person.
If happiness pursues you, you are an extraordinary person.
Do not chase happiness; let it chase you.
― Peter Deunov

Whereas the beautiful is limited, the sublime is limitless,
so that the mind in the presence of the sublime,
attempting to imagine what it cannot, has pain in the failure
but pleasure in contemplating the immensity of the attempt.
― Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason

Three abstract views of the common pepperweed (Lepidium densiflorum).

Photos © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Free Garden Clipart for Collage, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Conversations in the Garden 5

Attention is vitality. It connects you with others.
It makes you eager. Stay eager.
― Susan Sontag

To pay attention, this is our endless and proper work.
― Mary Oliver

Vintage 19th century illustration of two Victorian ladies and a girl in the garden of a French chateau. The lady in the green dress is listening attentively to her daughter as she lovingly hugs the girl close to her side.

You can download this garden-themed illustration as a free 8" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Botanical Illustrations for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Wild Clover Varieties, 1886

When one tugs at a single thing in nature,
he finds it attached to the rest of the world.
― John Muir

Four black and white illustrations of different varieties of wild clover, originally published in an 1886 book. From left to right in the preview picture, these are: Trifolium Stoloniferum, Trifolium Involucratum, Trifolium fucatum and finally, Trifolium megacepilalum.

You can download these botanical illustrations as free high-res 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEGs without a watermark here, here, here, and here. Great for collage art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Outdoor Illustration for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Into the Woods

Ordinarily, I go to the woods alone, with not a single friend,
for they are all smilers and talkers and therefore unsuitable.

I don’t really want to be witnessed talking to the catbirds
or hugging the old black oak tree.
I have my way of praying, as you no doubt have yours.

Besides, when I am alone I can become invisible.
I can sit on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds,
until the foxes run by unconcerned.
I can hear the almost unhearable sound of the roses singing.

If you have ever gone to the woods with me,
I must love you very much.
— Mary Oliver, Swan: Poems and Prose Poems
Vintage outdoor illustration of a Victorian standing in the deep woods, cradling a bouquet of wildflowers in her arms.

You can download theis vintage illustration as a free 8" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Garden Clipart for Collage, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Edwardian Mother and Daughter in the Garden 1

If you are losing your leisure, look out!
-- It may be you are losing your soul.
― Virginia Woolf

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds.
Discard them and their value will never be known.
Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Vintage 20th century illustration of an Edwardian mother and her daughter in the garden. The mother is lounging against a garden hammock as her daughter leans in beside her her, holding a racket.

You can download this garden-themed illustration as a free 8" x 10" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Garden Clipart for Collage, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Big Sister Sheltering Her Little Brother from Rain

The rain set early in tonight,
The sullen wind was soon awake,
It tore the elm-tops down for spite,
And did its best to vex the lake:
I listened with heart fit to break.
When glided in Porphyria; straight
She shut the cold out and the storm,
And kneeled and made the cheerless grate
Blaze up and all the cottage warm...
― Robert Browning
Two panel illustration from 1866 showing a young girl (big sister) sheltering a young boy (little brother) from gusty winds and blowing rain with an old but apparently sturdy umbrella.

You can download this garden-themed illustration as a free 11" x 6.75" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark for collage, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Botanical Illustration for Collage Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Common Garden Tulips 1

Nothing retains its original form, but Nature, the goddess of all renewal,
keeps altering one shape into another.
Nothing at all in the world can perish, you have to believe me;
things merely vary and change their appearance.
What we call birth is merely becoming a different entity;
what we call death is ceasing to be the same. Though the parts may possibly shift
their position from here to there, the wholeness in nature is constant.
― Ovid, Metamorphoses

You can download this botanical illustration of common garden tulips as a free high-res 8.5" x 11" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Great for collage art, graphic design, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.

Free Vintage Nature Poems: The Man in the Sun + Flowers and Weeds

Two vintage nature poems originally published in 1887. The first poem is a short verse called The Man in the Sun written by Jenny Wallis and goes like this:
The man in the sun
Just thought it was fun
To fry a good pan of eels;
When both sides were cooked,
Then at them he looked,
And turned and threw up his heels.
The second poem is called Flowers and Weeds. It was written by George Cooper and goes as follows:
Have you ever heard what the fairies say,
Little girl, little boy? Oh, hear and heed!
For each smile you wear on your face to-day
There's a flower grows; for each frown a weed.

So to make this world like a garden bright,
Little girl, little boy, keep frowns away.
Oh, the loving lips that can say to-night,
We have scattered flowers o'er the earth to-day!
You can download the illustrated poem(s) as a high-res 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative endeavors and not for resale or re-distribution "as-is". Please credit FieldandGarden.com as your source when sharing or publishing.