Free Vintage Outdoor Illustration for Collage, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: A Summer Shower

August rain: the best of the summer gone, and the new fall not yet born.
The odd uneven time.
― Sylvia Plath

It’s not that we have to quit
this life one day, but it’s how
many things we have to quit
all at once: music, laughter,
the physics of falling leaves,
automobiles, holding hands,
the scent of rain, the concept
of subway trains... if only one
could leave this life slowly!
― Roman Payne

Vintage illustration of a Victorian woman caught in a summer shower. Luckily, she is prepared for the capricious weather with her rain boots and umbrella! 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 works. Not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

My Photo Journal: Summer Phlox (1)

The first week of August hangs at the very top of summer, the top of the live-long year,
like the highest seat of a Ferris wheel when it pauses in its turning.
The weeks that come before are only a climb from balmy spring,
and those that follow a drop to the chill of autumn,
but the first week of August is motionless, and hot.
It is curiously silent, too, with blank white dawns and glaring noons,
and sunsets smeared with too much color.
― Natalie Babbitt, Tuck Everlasting

All in all, it was a never-to-be-forgotten summer
— one of those summers which come seldom into any life,
but leave a rich heritage of beautiful memories in their going
— one of those summers which, in a fortunate combination of delightful weather,
delightful friends and delightful doing, come as near to perfection as anything can come in this world.
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams

What is currently blooming in your garden this summer? Phlox and black-eyed Susans are obviously enjoying their moment in the sun but other perennials presently thriving in my garden are Buddleia (butterfly bushes), Echinacea (coneflowers), various lilies, summer roses, hardy hibiscus, and Japanese anemones, just to name a few.

I've harvested massive handfuls of tomatoes and baskets full of Swiss chard, okra, strawberries and early potatoes from my vegetable beds. The garden is teeming with life and beauty, and my senses are overloaded with nature's plenty. I feel blessed and thankful as summer asserts its glow on my heart.

True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future,
not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have,
which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing.
The greatest blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach.
A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not.
― Seneca

© FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Printable Vintage Art: Dahlias in Vases by Maurits van der Valk

Blue Glass Vase with Lilac Dahlia

Glass Vase with Red Dahlia

You have power over your mind - not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.
― Marcus Aurelius

It is good to love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is well done.
― Vincent Van Gogh

Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.
― Mahatma Gandhi

Vintage paintings of dahlias in glass vases by Maurits van der Valk (1867–1935); oiginally found on Wikimedia here and here. Digitally enhanced versions can be downloaded as 8” x 18” @ 300 ppi JPEGs here and here.


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

Free Vintage Nature Poem and Garden Illustration: Homing Birds

HOMING BIRDS
by Mary Rowles Jarvis

Out and away through the morning skies,
Where the rosy glamour of dawning lies,
As our silvery pinions cleave the blue,
Through the sun's dominions our course is true,
For we circle and soar the wide heavens through;
And many a beautiful thing we know
Of the sunlit skies, and the world below,
And many a secret we might show.
But though much we see, and though far we roam
We always come back to our own dear home!

We love to wheel round the leafless trees
In the keen delight of the northern breeze;
When dell and dingle their songs attune,
And roses mingle their sweets for June,
We curve and float through the dreamy noon.
And when the autumn its wealth hath told,
And earth is shorn of its bending gold,
We still go forth on our journeys bold,
As free as the sea-bird that skims the foam,
Yet bound by love to our own dear home.

Right glad are we as we mount and soar
Where only the lark hath passed before;
Where no annoyance, or fear, or toil,
Our eager joyaunce can fret and spoil,
Or dust of the earth our plumage soil.
But dearer far to the heart of a dove
Than sapphire breadths of the realness above,
Is the lowly shelter where love wins love;
Where wings too weary again to roam
All rest and happiness find at home.

Ah! homing birds, we too could tell
The old sweet lesson you preach so well!
Be it only a dove-cote, three feet square,
Or a Palace Beautiful, wide and fair,
The spell is the same spell everywhere.
Where perfect trust as the warden stands,
And kindness welcomes with outstretched hands,
And love makes silken her bonds and bands,
In moss-roofed cottage, or royal dome,
The heart rejoices in home, sweet home!

Amtique illustration of a young woman feeding her homing birds in the garden. 8.5” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. You can also download the poem as it was originally printed (see below) by clicking once to expand, and then right-clicking on the image to save to your device:

Antique nature poem and illustration are from my personal collection of ephemera. They can be incorporated into your creative works but are not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

Free Vintage Garden Illustration: Happiness in the Garden, 1896

Sometimes since I've been in the garden I've looked up through the trees at the sky and I have had a strange feeling of being happy as if something was pushing and drawing in my chest and making me breathe fast. Magic is always pushing and drawing and making things out of nothing. Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden - in all the places.
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

We all deserve to get away and have some peace; and others deserve the peace of us getting out of their way!
― Ajahn Brahm, Who Ordered This Truckload of Dung?: Inspiring Stories for Welcoming Life's Difficulties

Vintage illustration of a lady relaxing in the garden from 1896. 8” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative works. Not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

Vintage Art Appreciation: A Corner of the Garden with Dahlias by Claude Monet

“I'm in love with you,” he said quietly.

“Augustus,” I said.

“I am,” he said. He was staring at me, and I could see the corners of his eyes crinkling. “I’m in love with you, and I’m not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I’m in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we’re all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we’ll ever have, and I am in love with you.”
― John Green, The Fault in Our Stars

He’s not perfect. You aren’t either, and the two of you will never be perfect. But if he can make you laugh at least once, causes you to think twice, and if he admits to being human and making mistakes, hold onto him and give him the most you can. He isn’t going to quote poetry, he’s not thinking about you every moment, but he will give you a part of him that he knows you could break. Don’t hurt him, don’t change him, and don’t expect for more than he can give. Don’t analyze. Smile when he makes you happy, yell when he makes you mad, and miss him when he’s not there. Love hard when there is love to be had. Because perfect guys don’t exist, but there’s always one guy that is perfect for you.
― Bob Marley

Artwork is titled “The Artist's Garden in Argenteuil” or (A Corner of the Garden with Dahlias) and was painted in 1873 by Claude Monet (1840–1926). Originally found on Wikimedia. Digitally enhanced version of the painting as an 12” x 9” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


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

Vintage Art Appreciation: Rain in May by Arthur Wesley Dow

The rain to the wind said,
You push and I'll pelt.
They so smote the garden bed
That the flowers actually knelt,
And lay lodged--though not dead.
I know how the flowers felt.
― Robert Frost

But he calls down a blessing on the blossom of the may,
Because it comes in beauty, and in beauty blows away.
― W.B. Yeats, Stories of Red Hanrahan

Artwork is titled “Rain in May” and was painted c1907 by Arthur Wesley Dow (1857–1922). Originally found on Wikimedia. Digitally enhanced version of the painting as an 11” x 14” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


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

Vintage Botanical Illustrations: Two Varieties of Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
― William Wordsworth Longfellow, I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud

Two varieties of daffodils: “Sir Watkin” (top) and “Paper White” (bottom); both botanical illustrations from c1896. You can download the images above as 3” x 4” @ 300 ppi JPEGs here and here. Great for collage, graphic design, junk journal, scrapbooking or stamping projects.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative works. Not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

Free Vintage Illustrated Nature Poem: Dreams by Constance Morgan

A long low sweep of clouds which trembling lie
Across the golden-glinted West, and far
Beyond the twilight gates one lonely star
Waits calm and still to watch the daylight die.

Like to the sweep of God’s white garment there,
The summer moonlight sleeps upon the sea
Like to a vision of Eternity,
Like to a love that cometh unaware.

A mystic lyre swept by the summer wind,
A far-off echo in the falling rain,
A song of joy, a wild deep sob of pain,
A whisper from the years that lie behind.

Is it a dream grown holy, grown divine,
For all life’s toling, all earth’s pain and care,
Grown perfect by the loving unaware–
Grown tender by the moonlight’s silver shine?

Perchance it may be only dreaming; yet,
When Life’s dim twilight angel spread his wings
Over the weariness of earthly things,
What shall we then remember―what forget?

Good-night! The glow has faded from the sky,
Leaving behind a ruddy starlight gleam,
And in my heart the mem’ry of a dream.
Hush! for the day lies dead. Good-night―good-bye.

Late 19th century (Victorian) poem of loss and mourning by Constance Morgan called “Dreams.” You can find a printable copy of the poem as a high-res 11” x 8” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.



From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative works. Not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

Free Vintage Outdoor Illustration for Collage, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Spring Flowers, 1881

Then came the healing time, hearts started to shine, soul felt so fine,
oh what a freeing time it was.
― Aberjhani

From all that I saw,
and everywhere I wandered,
I learned that time cannot be spent,
It only can be squandered.
― Roman Payne

Vintage illustration of a girl gathering wildflowers in the woods. From an 1881 engraving of the painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825–1905). 7.25” x 15” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative works. Not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

Vintage Art Appreciation: Lilies by Frederick Carl Frieseke

I died as mineral and became a plant,
I died as plant and rose to animal,
I died as animal and I was human,
Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?
Yet once more I shall die human,
To soar with angels blessed above.
And when I sacrifice my angel soul
I shall become what no mind ever conceived.
As a human, I will die once more,
Reborn, I will with the angels soar.
And when I let my angel body go,
I shall be more than mortal mind can know.
― Rumi
Artwork is titled “Lilies” and was painted c1911 by Frederick Carl Frieseke (1874–1939). Originally found on Wikimedia. Digitally enhanced version of the painting as a 7” x 5” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


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

Printable Vintage Art: Botanical Illustration of Lilium auratum (Golden-Rayed Lily)

Lilium auratum, 1862
by Louis van Houtte (1810–1876)
Lilium auratum (山百合, yamayuri, literally “mountain lily”) is one of the true lilies. It is native to Japan and is sometimes called the golden-rayed lily or the goldband lily.

The Englishman who was the earliest collector of lily bulbs in Japan was arguably young John Gould Veitch of Veitch Nurseries, and in 1862 he sent to England the golden rayed lily, L. auratum, which became touted as the “aristocrat of lilies”. It was allegedly in 1867 that a man named John Joshua Jarmain operating from Yokohama became the first commercial exporter of Japanese lilies, though the species of lily is not clarified. The mint exporter Samuel Cocking of Yokohama also exported lilies from the early 1800s, presumably of the L. auratum species, which is the local prefectural flower [ja] of Kanagawa Prefecture. Isaac Bunting, another purveyor of plants offered L. auratum for sale, as seen in his 1885 catalog. [Source: Wikipedia.]

You can download the antique botanical illustration above as a high-res 6” x 9” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Public domain, colours digitally enhanced.


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

Vintage Art Appreciation: Playing with Butterflies by Alois Hans Schram

Playing with Butterflies, 1895
by Alois Hans Schram (1864–1919)
She liked being reminded of butterflies. She remembered being six or seven and crying over the fates of the butterflies in her yard after learning that they lived for only a few days. Her mother had comforted her and told her not to be sad for the butterflies, that just because their lives were short didn't mean they were tragic. Watching them flying in the warm sun among the daisies in their garden, her mother had said to her, see, they have a beautiful life. Alice liked remembering that.
― Lisa Genova, Still Alice

But on paper, things can live forever.
On paper, a butterfly never dies.
― Jacqueline Woodson, Brown Girl Dreaming

Vintage painting oiginally found on Wikimedia here. Digitally altered version can be downloaded as an 8” x 12” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


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

Printable Vintage Art: Mirabell Gardens by Hans Wilt

Mirabell Palace and the Mirabell Garden are amongst Salzburg's most popular attractions. The entire site, which is under a preservation order, belongs to the UNESCO World Heritage list.

Under Archbishop Johann Ernst Thun, the Mirabell Garden was reshaped around 1690 according to plans drawn up by baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. The basic geometrical form characteristic of the Baroque age is still recognisable. The visual alignment towards Cathedral and Fortress lends the garden a grandiose effect, at the same time incorporating it into the historic townscape.

Mirabell Gardens, 1916
by Hans Wilt (1867–1917)
The painting above shows a family walking along a flower-lined path in Mirabell Gardens and was originally found on Wikimedia. Digitally enhanced version of the painting as an 8" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Lovely as a journal or scrapbook cover, greeting card or framed for wall decoration.


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

Printable Vintage Art: Hollyhocks and Cats by an Unknown Artist

Hollyhocks and Cats, between 1368 and 1644
by an unknown artist

And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.
― Roald Dahl

Believe something and the Universe is on its way to being changed. Because you've changed, by believing. Once you've changed, other things start to follow. Isn't that the way it works?
― Diane Duane

Vintage painting oiginally found on Wikimedia here. Digitally altered version can be downloaded as an 8.5” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


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

Vintage Botanical Illustrations: Varieties of Violas and Pansies

“Sometimes,” he sighed, “I think the things I remember
are more real than the things I see.”
― Arthur Golden, Memoirs of a Geisha

If you cannot hold me in your arms, then hold my memory in high regard.
And if I cannot be in your life, then at least let me live in your heart.
― Ranata Suzuki
While violas and pansies are often confused for each other, they are actually distinct members of the Violaceae family. The most obvious distinction is the size of the flowers. Violas generally have smaller, more delicate blooms than their pansy counterparts. Throughout history, these flowers have been used as symbols of innocence, humility, modesty, fidelity, remembrance, grief, faithfulness, and virtue.

You can download the four botanical illustrations above in one 8” x 8” @ 300 ppi JPEG here. Great for graphic design, junk journal, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative works. Not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

Vintage Outdoor Graphic for Altered Art, Graphic Design, Papercrafts or Scrapbooking: Sweet Promises in Spring Landscape

Love's about finding the one person who makes your heart complete. Who makes you a better person than you ever dreamed you could be. Its about looking in the eyes of your wife and knowing all the way to your bones that she's simply the best person you've ever known.
― Julia Quinn, The Viscount Who Loved Me

Antique illustration from 1893 showing a pair of lovers about to be marries in the sweet springtime, walking arm on arm in the blossoming landscape. 8.5” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative works. Not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

Vintage Art Appreciation: Purple crocuses, cloth of gold crocus, liverwort, poppy anemones and jay, c1650

I give you this to take with you:
Nothing remains as it was.
If you know this, you can begin again,
with pure joy in the uprooting.
― Judith Minty, Letters to My Daughters
About the painting: A page of watercolours depicting seven plants and a dead Jay. The plants are two Purple crocuses (Crocus vernus Hill), a crocus from Susa (Crocus susianus Ker-Gawler), double-form liverwort (Hepatica nobilis Miller 'Caerulea Plena'), and two poppy anemones (Anemone coronaria L.). The Eurasian Jay (Garrulus glandarius) appears to cast a shadow on the sheet, as though a real bird has fallen onto a page of painted flowers.

About the artist: Alexander Marshal (c. 1620-1682) was a talented horticulturalist, entomologist and amateur artist. He was one of a network of gardeners working in and around London in the middle of the seventeenth century, and had links with the Tradescants (who had a garden at Lambeth) and Henry Compton (who, as Bishop of London, developed a fine garden at Fulham Palace). Marshal’s careful study of plants was combined with an examination of the science of painting and he wrote in 1667 to the Secretary of the Royal Society to discuss the methods he used for making pigments. The colours in Marshal’s paintings do indeed remain impressively bright over 350 years later.

Source: Original painting and full article as it appears on the Royal Collection Trust (UK) website here.

To download my digitally enhanced version of the above painting as a 5" x 7" @ 300 ppi JPEG, please click here.


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

Vintage Art Appreciation: Still Life with Orchids

Still Life with Orchids, 1888
by Gustave Den Duyts (1850–1897)

“That proves you are unusual,” returned the Scarecrow;
“and I am convinced that the only people worthy of consideration
in this world are the unusual ones.
For the common folks are like the leaves of a tree, and live and die unnoticed.”
― L. Frank Baum, The Land of Oz
Vintage painting oiginally found on Wikimedia here. Digitally altered version can be found as a 5" x 8" @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


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

Vintage Botanical Illustrations: Collection of Single Roses, 1897

SET 1
(1) THE COPPER AUSTRIAN BRIAR.
The true "Eglantine" of Linnaeus and Redouté. A very choice kind of single rose, which will grow in light warm soil.
(2) ROSEA LUTEA.
The Eglanteria of Linnaeus, an indispensable rose for hybriding. Is the original wild rose of the Austrian briars. Hot sandy soil.
(3) ROSA KAMTSCHATICA.
A good hedge rose. Grows freely.

SET 2
(1) ROSA CANINA GALLICA.
A garden variety of the English dog rose and French rose. Suitable for shrubberies.
(2)ROSA BRACTEABER, from which the Macartney rose was derived. Useful for covering walls with a south and west aspect. The flowers occur singly, but are very large.
(3) ROSA SPINASISSIMA V. GRANDIFLORA. Burnet or Scotch rose. Sandy soil.

SET 3
(1) PAUL'S "Carmine Rose."
A good pillar rose. Grows freely.
(2) ROSA RUGOSA.
The Japanese Ramanas rose for beds and shrubberies, equally beautiful in autumn for its large scarlet fruit and tinted leaves.
(3) ROSA MOSCHATA V. BRUNONII.
A form of musk-rose. Vigorous, for large buildings, trunks of trees, etc., requires space; blooms freely.
(4) ROSA POMIERA.
This is a garden rose grown for the large bright fruit.

SET 4
(1) HYBRID PERPETIAL ROSE "Crown Prince."
(2) NOISETTE ROSE "Madame P. Cochet."

Four sets of rose illustrations from an article published May 15, 1897. You can download these graphics as three 8.5” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEGs (Sets 1-3) and one 11” x 8” @ 300 ppi JPEG (Set 4) here. Good for graphic design, junk journal, papercrafts or scrapbooking projects.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative works. Not for resale “as-is.” Credit to FieldandGarden.com appreciated but not required.

Vintage Art Appreciation: Orchids and Poppies

It is in your power to withdraw yourself whenever you desire. Perfect tranquility within consists in the good ordering of the mind, the realm of your own.
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

I will be calm. I will be mistress of myself.
― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility

Laugh, even when you feel too sick or too worn out or tired.
Smile, even when you're trying not to cry and the tears are blurring your vision.
Sing, even when people stare at you and tell you your voice is crappy.
Trust, even when your heart begs you not to.
Twirl, even when your mind makes no sense of what you see.
Frolick, even when you are made fun of. Kiss, even when others are watching. Sleep, even when you're afraid of what the dreams might bring.
Run, even when it feels like you can't run any more.
And, always, remember, even when the memories pinch your heart. Because the pain of all your experience is what makes you the person you are now. And without your experience---you are an empty page, a blank notebook, a missing lyric. What makes you brave is your willingness to live through your terrible life and hold your head up high the next day. So don't live life in fear. Because you are stronger now, after all the crap has happened, than you ever were back before it started.
― Alysha Speer

Both painting are by Lovis Corinth (1858–1925). Originally found on Wikimedia here and here. Digitally altered versions of these paintings can be found as 6" x 9" @ 300 ppi JPEGs here (click on the download icon at top right of images).


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

Vintage Art Appreciation: Iris, Bindweed and an Ear of Corn

This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience - it looks for a way of being constructive.
Love is not possessive.
Love is not anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own ideas.
Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage.
Love is not touchy.
Love does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.
Love knows no limits to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. It is, in fact, the one thing that stands when all else has fallen.
― Elisabeth Elliot, Let Me Be a Woman

Painting is called "Iris, Bindweed and an Ear of Corn" by Cornelis van Spaendonck (1756-1839). Originally found on Wikimedia. Digitally enhanced version of the painting as a 9" x 8" @ 300 ppi JPEG here.


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