My Photo Journal: Fluid Reality (1)

If nothing lasted and the world did not exist,
all that meant was that reality was not fixed.
The illusion she lived in was fluid and mutable,
and could be easily altered by someone willing to rewrite the script of reality.
― R.F. Kuang, The Dragon Republic

I've been making a list of the things they don't teach you at school.
They don't teach you how to love somebody.
They don't teach you how to be famous.
They don't teach you how to be rich or how to be poor.
They don't teach you how to walk away from someone you don't love any longer.
They don't teach you how to know what's going on in someone else's mind.
They don't teach you what to say to someone who's dying.
They don't teach you anything worth knowing.
― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 9: The Kindly Ones

Stormy clouds gathering above red roof tiles.
Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Printable Vintage Art: Portrait of a Young Woman Sitting Outdoors by Julie Volpelière

Portrait of a young woman sitting outdoors, holding a bouquet of flowers, 1822
by Julie Volpelière (1780–1842)

She cast her fragrance and her radiance over me. I ought never to have run away from her... I ought to have guessed all the affection that lay behind her poor little stratagems. Flowers are so inconsistent! But I was too young to know how to love her...
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

Some women feel the need to act like they're never scared, needy or hurt; like they're as hardened as a man. I think that's dishonest. It's ok to feel delicate sometimes. Real beauty is in the fragility of your petals. A rose that never wilts isn't a rose at all.
― Crystal Woods, Write Like No One is Reading

If you like, you can download my digitally enhanced version of the painting above as a high-res, printable 4” x 5” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.

Spring drew on...and a greenness grew over those brown beds, which, freshening daily, suggested the thought that Hope traversed them at night, and left each morning brighter traces of her steps.
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

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

Printable Vintage Art: Maria Luisa of Parma by Anton Raphael Mengs

A portrait painting of Maria Luisa of Parma in a garden setting, holding a pair of dahlia-like flowers. Her magnificent court gown is richly adorned with decorative plants and flowers. This fine artwork was executed by Anton Raphael Mengs (1728–1779) around 1765. Maria Luisa of Parma (Luisa Maria Teresa Anna; 9 December 1751 – 2 January 1819) was, by marriage to King Charles IV of Spain, Queen of Spain from 1788 to 1808 leading up to the Peninsular War. Maria Luisa was interested in music and art, and known as a protector of artists, most notably Francisco Goya. [Source: Wikipedia]

If you like, you can download my digitally enhanced version of the painting (seen above) as a high-res, printable 8” x 11” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.

Here is a photo of Dahlia ‘Zorro’ growing in my garden from the 2025 season. While I planted nine varieties of these powerhouse tubers today for the 2026 season, none of them included Zorro, unfortunately. I decided I wanted to try ball/pom-pom dahlias this season and due to budget and lack of space, I had to sacrifice getting Zorro. If the pom-pom dahlias end up being underwhelming, I will go back to my razzle-dazzle dinner-plate dahlias next year!
Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

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

Printable Vintage Art: Tulips by Charles Sheeler

A flower painting of tulips by Charles Sheeler (1883-1965), done c1925-26. An essay from the famed auction house Christie's describes the artwork as follows:

Tulips is part of a small group of graceful still lifes from the 1920s in which Charles Sheeler focuses on the contrast of natural and geometric forms, a theme he explored throughout his career in various mediums and subject matter.

The genre of still life was particularly appealing to Sheeler as he could leave the elements--which were often chosen from his collection of American decorative arts--set up for long periods of time and maintain a consistent light source through the use of photographic flood lights. Carol Troyen and Erica E. Hirshler write of this body of work, "The remarkable series of still lifes Sheeler produced in the mid-1920s were constructed from deceptively simple means. He generally used a traditional formula: fruits or flowers arranged on a tabletop, supplemented by simple articles of furniture, glassware and pottery. He painted the same forms repeatedly...The objects Sheeler painted again and again in the 1920s were consistently plain--the flowers were never exotic species, the glassware and furnishings were distinguished by their proportions rather than by the surface embellishments--and he rendered them in an understated, self-effacing way. (Charles Sheeler: Paintings and Drawings, Boston, Massachusetts, 1987, p. 106)

The present work is considered to be among Sheeler's most successful compositions within his series of still life paintings. Troyen and Hirshler comment, "Red[sic] Tulips is one of Sheeler's most elegant still lifes, with pleasing contrasts between crisp, sensuous outlines and softly painted, opalescent passages. Thinly brushed in delicate color...and with a slightly dry surface, the painting reveals both Sheeler's sensuality and his restraint. But in contrast to the satisfying elegance of Sheeler's technique, his simple arrangement of flowers on a table is vaguely disquieting. Although blossoms are arrayed in harmonious symmetry across the picture's surface, they nonetheless wind and sway on their elongated stems, bobbing out toward the viewer and twisting back into the shallow space in a kind of contrapuntal rhythm. The apparently perfect, restful compositional balance Sheeler achieved between the vase, the tabletop, and the goblet is undermined by the fact that the tabletop is pushed noticeably off-center and is tilted up, pressing the glassware forward." (Charles Sheeler: Paintings and Drawings, p. 106)
Tulips manifests Sheeler's interest in the challenge of creating compelling works with everyday objects. The result is an innovative and modern rendition of a traditional genre, and a tour-de-force within Sheeler's body of still life paintings.

If you like, you can download my digitally enhanced version (seen above) as a high-res, printable 4” x 6” @ 300 ppi JPEG here.

First tulips of the 2026 season in my zone 6b garden. This clump happens to be a first-year, mail-order tulip bulb mix from a Prince Edward Island grower called Veseys that included single, double and fringed varieties. A few of the initial blooms have unfortunately been eaten by bunnies! We will see how the rest of the patch fares in the coming days.
Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

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

Printable Vintage Botanical Illustration: Hyacinth (1) by Basilius Besler

We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward.
― Alison Croggon

For there are two kinds of forgiveness in the world: the one you practice because everything really is all right, and what went before is mended. The other kind of forgiveness you practice because someone needs desperately to be forgiven, or because you need just as badly to forgive them, for a heart can grab hold of old wounds and go sour as milk over them.
― Catherynne M. Valente, The Girl Who Fell Beneath Fairyland and Led the Revels There

Beautifully rendered botanical illustration of hyacinths by Basilius Besler (1561–1629). Originally found here: Wikimedia. Digitally modified version (by Field & Garden) can be downloaded as a high-res, printable 8” x 10” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


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

Illustrated Template for Announcements, Invitations, Journaling and Various Other Design Projects: The Lark's Nest

A lark began to sing in the tree above her. Dortchen opened her eyes and looked up. It was such a small, plain, grey thing, yet its song was so full of joy. She could see its breast swell, its thin throat tremble. It lifted its wings, as if seeking to draw more air into its lungs. Song-notes were flung into the air, like golden coins thrown by a generous hand. All the lark's strength was poured into its music, all its joy. Dortchen took a deep breath, so deep that she felt her lungs expand and the muscles of her chest crack. She wanted to live like the lark did, filled with rapture. She stood up, looking up at the bird through the sunlit leaves. It flung its wings wide and soared away into the sky. She wanted to fly with it.
― Kate Forsyth, The Wild Girl

Late 19th century illustration of a lark's nest in a meadow surrounded by fluttering butterflies and nodding spring flowers, paired with lightly distressed painted old paper to create an illustrated template that can be used for announcemnts, invitations, journaling and various other design projects. High-res 12” x 12” @ 300 ppi JPEG without any words/watermark can be found here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative works. Not for resale “as-is.”

Illustrated Template for Announcements, Invitations, Journaling and Various Other Design Projects: The Young Naturalists

I love the stillness of the wood;
I love the music of the rill:
I love the couch in pensive mood
Upon some silent hill.

Scarce heard, beneath yon arching trees,
The silver-crested ripples pass;
and, like a mimic brook, the breeze
Whispers among the grass.

Here from the world I win release,
Nor scorn of men, nor footstep rude,
Break into mar the holy peace
Of this great solitude.

Here may the silent tears I weep
Lull the vested spirit into rest,
As infants sob themselves to sleep
Upon a mothers breast.

But when the bitter hour is gone,
And the keen throbbing pangs are still,
Oh, sweetest then to couch alone
Upon some silent hill!

To live in joys that once have been,
To put the cold world out of sight,
And deck life's drear and barren scene
With hues of rainbow-light.

For what to man the gift of breath,
If sorrow be his lot below;
If all the day that ends in death
Be dark with clouds of woe?

Shall the poor transport of an hour
Repay long years of sore distress—
The fragrance of a lonely flower
Make glad the wilderness?

Ye golden house of life's young spring,
Of innocence, of love and truth!
Bright, beyond all imagining,
Thou fairy-dream of youth!

I'd give all wealth that years have piled,
The slow result of Life's decay,
To be once more a little child
For one bright summer's day.
― Lewis Carroll
Late 19th century illustration of five Victorian children looking at a nature exhibit, paired with lightly distressed painted old paper to create an illustrated template that can be used for announcemnts, invitations, journaling and various other design projects. High-res 9” x 12” @ 300 ppi JPEG without any words/watermark can be found here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. These images are to be incorporated into your creative works. Not for resale “as-is.”

Printable Vintage Art: A Trio of Rabbit Paintings

“Hare in a Wooded Landscape,” 19th century by Carl Franz Gruber (1803–1845)

“A Hare in the Forest,” 16th century by Hans Hoffmann (1530–1591)

“White Rabbit, Standing,” 1910 by Jan Mankes (1889–1920)

She died--this was the way she died;
And when her breath was done,
Took up her simple wardrobe
And started for the sun.
Her little figure at the gate
The angels must have spied,
Since I could never find her
Upon the mortal side.
― Emily Dickinson, Selected Poems
The idea of rabbits as a symbol of vitality, rebirth and resurrection derives from antiquity. This explains their role in connection with Easter, the resurrection of Christ. The unusual presentation in Christian iconography of a Madonna with the Christ Child playing with a white rabbit in Titian's Madonna of the Rabbit can thus be interpreted Christologically. Together with the basket of bread and wine, a symbol of the sacrificial death of Christ, the picture may be interpreted as the resurrection of Christ after death. [Source: Wikimedia]

My digitally enhanced versions of the above paintings can be downloaded as high-res JPEGs without a watermark here (top), here (middle) and here (bottom).


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

My Photo Journal: Summer Throwback Walk at Lynde Shores Conservation Area in Whitby, Ontario

Youth is happy because it has the capacity to see beauty.
Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty never grows old.
― Franz Kafka

The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.
― W.B. Yeats

Look at everything always as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time:
Thus is your time on earth filled with glory.
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Picture above shows a fallen tree in the woods while we were out walking one summer day in Lynde Shores Conservation Area many years ago. Doesn't it almost look like it could be a tropical rainforest with the foliage being so lush?

We first started going to Lynde Shores in Whitby, Ontario when our daughter was around 2 years old (she is turning 18 this year) and it was once our favourite go-to destination for at least a decade because she was (still is, actually) absolutely fascinated by the abundance of wildlife that would waddle, scamper or crawl around with no fear of the humans traipsing through their habitat. We go less frequently now as it has gotten much busier since the COVID-19 lockdown but it is still worth visiting especially if you have young children who love getting up close and personal with Nature!

© FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Printable Vintage Illustration: Young Woman with Wisteria Head Dress

Love is how you stay alive, even after you are gone.
― Mitch Albom

I believe in the power of the imagination to remake the world,
to release the truth within us, to hold back the night,
to transcend death, to charm motorways, to ingratiate ourselves with birds,
to enlist the confidences of madmen.
― J.G. Ballard

I would love to believe that when I die I will live again, that some thinking, feeling,
remembering part of me will continue. But as much as I want to believe that,
and despite the ancient and worldwide cultural traditions that assert an afterlife,
I know of nothing to suggest that it is more than wishful thinking.
― Carl Sagan, Billions & Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millennium

Vintage 19th century illustration showing a young woman with a wisteria head dress. The original caption for this engraving read “La Glycine.” High-res 7.5” x 10” @ 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.

Printable Vintage Art: Snow by Gustave Courbet

“What?” she asked again.
He pointed ahead of them. “See that?”
“What, the snow?”
“Beyond that.”
“More snow?”
“Stop looking at the snow.”
― Derek Landy, Kingdom of the Wicked

I have not yet lost a feeling of wonder, and of delight, that this delicate motion should reside in all the things around us, revealing itself only to him who looks for it. I remember, in the winter of our first experiments, just seven years ago, looking on snow with new eyes. There the snow lay around my doorstep — great heaps of protons quietly precessing in the earth's magnetic field. To see the world for a moment as something rich and strange is the private reward of many a discovery.
― Edward M. Purcell

The snow was too light to stay, the ground too warm to keep it. And the strange spring snow fell only in that golden moment of dawn, the turning of the page between night and day.
― Shannon Hale, Palace of Stone

Vintage landscape artwork by Gustave Courbet (1819–1877), simply entitled “Snow,” oiginally painted c1875. Digitally enhanced version can be downloaded as a printable 12” x 13” @ 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: Rain Over Meadow by Fyodor Vasilyev

There are a hundred things she has tried to chase away the things she won't remember and that she can't even let herself think about because that's when the birds scream and the worms crawl and somewhere in her mind it's always raining a slow and endless drizzle.

You will hear that she has left the country, that there was a gift she wanted you to have, but it is lost before it reaches you. Late one night the telephone will sign, and a voice that might be hers will say something that you cannot interpret before the connection crackles and is broken.

Several years later, from a taxi, you will see someone in a doorway who looks like her, but she will be gone by the time you persuade the driver to stop. You will never see her again.

Whenever it rains you will think of her.
― Neil Gaiman

Vintage landscape artwork by Fyodor Vasilyev (1850–1873) entitled “Rain over Meadow,” oiginally painted in 1872. Digitally enhanced version can be downloaded as a printable 13” 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.

Printable Vintage Garden Illustration: The Beautiful Little Greenhouse by T.J. Beyer

“It always amazes me to look at the little, wrinkled brown seeds and think of the rainbows in 'em,” said Captain Jim. “When I ponder on them seeds I don't find it nowise hard to believe that we've got souls that'll live in other worlds. You couldn't hardly believe there was life in them tiny things, some no bigger than grains of dust, let alone colour and scent, if you hadn't seen the miracle, could you?”
― L.M. Montgomery, Anne's House of Dreams

If you live in the dark a long time and the sun comes out, you do not cross into it whistling. There's an initial uprush of relief at first, then-for me, anyway- a profound dislocation. My old assumptions about how the world works are buried, yet my new ones aren't yet operational.There's been a death of sorts, but without a few days in hell, no resurrection is possible.
― Mary Karr, Lit

An early 19th century (from 1810) illustration of a beautiful little greenhouse with pots of spring flowers stacked on shelves beside it, waiting to be planted in the garden. 6” x 8” @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here.


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

Vintage Garden-Themed Postcard: Vintage Roses and Wildflowers Greeting Card

To love at all is to be vulnerable.
Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken.
If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal.
Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries;
avoid all entanglements.
Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.
But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change.
It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.
To love is to be vulnerable.
― C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves

One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.
― Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist

Vintage postcard with an illustration of roses and wildflowers growing above a garden pond. The words “With Love and Best Wishes” are inscribed in calligraphic font at the bottom of the card. You can download the high-res 6” x 4” @ 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: The Saucer of Milk by Helen Allingham

The Saucer of Milk, 19th century
by Helen Allingham (1864–1919)
Do your little bit of good where you are;
it's those little bits of good put together that overwhelm the world.
― Desmond Tutu

The thought manifests the word;
The word manifests the deed;
The deed develops into habit;
And habit hardens into character;
So watch the thought and its ways with care,
And let them spring forth from love
Born out of compassion for all beings.
As the shadow follows the body, as we think, so we become.
― Dhammapada

Vintage art oiginally found on Wikimedia here. Don't you just love this gentle, idyllic cottage scene? You can download my digitally enhanced version of this utterly charming garden painting as an 8” x 10” @ 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: The Brushwood Collector by Adolf Kaufmann

We all have forests in our minds. Forests unexplored, unending. Each one of us gets lost in the forest, every night, alone.
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Wind's Twelve Quarters

Their life is mysterious, it is like a forest; from far off it seems a unity, it can be comprehended, described, but closer it begins to separate, to break into light and shadow, the density blinds one. Within there is no form, only prodigious detail that reaches everywhere: exotic sounds, spills of sunlight, foliage, fallen trees, small beasts that flee at the sound of a twig-snap, insects, silence, flowers. And all of this, dependent, closely woven, all of it is deceiving. There are really two kinds of life. There is, as Viri says, the one people believe you are living, and there is the other. It is this other which causes the trouble, this other we long to see.
― James Salter, Light Years

A vintage landscape painting by Adolf Kaufmann (1848–1916) entitled “The Brushwood Collector”; oiginally found on Wikimedia here. Digitally enhanced version can be downloaded as a 5” x 7” @ 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: A Thistle by John Crome

Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence.
Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent.
Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb.
Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts.
Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.
The slogan “Press On!” has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.
― Calvin Coolidge

A botanical painting by John Crome (1768–1821). This one is simply titled “A Thistle” and was painted circa 1812. Oiginally found on Wikimedia here. You can download my digitally enhanced version here.

Did you know that there are more than 60 native and introduced species of thistles in Canada alone? While many of these varieties are considered noxious weeds due to their persistent and invasive properties, they are a fantastic source of food for pollinators. In my garden, I have a modestly-sized, but controlled, clump of Echinops (globe thistle) that I grow as companion plants to my Echinacea (coneflowers). Both have the same watering requirements, being very drought tolerant, and both attract pollinators by the hundreds, if not thousands, every season! The spent flowers also attract plenty of birds, particularly finches, to devour the seedheads that develop, which adds to the lively atmosphere in the back yard. Keep these spiky plants at the back of the border but within easy reach so you can dig out a handful or two should they become too unruly.

Globe thistles emerging in late spring to provide sculptural contrast in the garden
Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

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

Printable Vintage Art: From the Road on the Way to Stinson Beach from Mill Valley by D. Howard Hitchcock

Midway along the journey of our life
I woke to find myself in a dark wood,
for I had wandered off from the straight path.

How hard it is to tell what it was like,
this wood of wilderness, savage and stubborn
(the thought of it brings back all my old fears),

a bitter place! Death could scarce be bitterer.
But if I would show the good that came of it
I must talk about things other than the good.
― Dante Alighieri

Their life is mysterious, it is like a forest; from far off it seems a unity, it can be comprehended, described, but closer it begins to separate, to break into light and shadow, the density blinds one. Within there is no form, only prodigious detail that reaches everywhere: exotic sounds, spills of sunlight, foliage, fallen trees, small beasts that flee at the sound of a twig-snap, insects, silence, flowers.

And all of this, dependent, closely woven, all of it is deceiving. There are really two kinds of life. There is, as Viri says, the one people believe you are living, and there is the other. It is this other which causes the trouble, this other we long to see.
― James Salter, Light Years

A vintage landscape painting of trees in a forest by David Howard Hitchcock (1861–1943) from 1910 entitled “From the Road on the Way to Stinson Beach from Mill Valley”; oiginally found on Wikimedia here. Digitally enhanced version can be downloaded as a 6” 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.

Printable Vintage Art: Winter River Landscape by Adolf Kaufmann

There are such a lot of things that have no place in summer and autumn and spring. Everything that’s a little shy and a little rum. Some kinds of night animals and people that don’t fit in with others and that nobody really believes in. They keep out of the way all the year. And then when everything’s quiet and white and the nights are long and most people are asleep—then they appear.
― Tove Jansson, Moominland Midwinter

But now she loved winter. Winter was beautiful “up back” - almost intolerably beautiful. Days of clear brilliance. Evenings that were like cups of glamour - the purest vintage of winter's wine. Nights with their fire of stars. Cold, exquisite winter sunrises. Lovely ferns of ice all over the windows of the Blue Castle. Moonlight on birches in a silver thaw. Ragged shadows on windy evenings - torn, twisted, fantastic shadows. Great silences, austere and searching. Jewelled, barbaric hills. The sun suddenly breaking through grey clouds over long, white Mistawis. Ice-grey twilights, broken by snow-squalls, when their cosy living-room, with its goblins of firelight and inscrutable cats, seemed cosier than ever. Every hour brought a new revalation and wonder.
― L.M. Montgomery, The Blue Castle

A vintage landscape painting by Adolf Kaufmann (1848–1916) entitled “Winter River Landscape”; oiginally found on Wikimedia here. Digitally enhanced version can be downloaded as a 14” 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.

My Photo Journal: January Cold (1)

“January”

The days are short, / The sun a spark
Hung thin between / The dark and dark.

Fat snowy footsteps / Track the floor,
And parkas pile up / Near the door.

The river is / A frozen place
Held still beneath / The trees' black lace.

The sky is low. / The wind is gray.
The radiator / Purrs all day.
― John Updike, A Child's Calendar

It is growing cold. Winter is putting footsteps in the meadow. What whiteness boasts that sun that comes into this wood! One would say milk-colored maidens are dancing on the petals of orchids. How coldly burns our sun! One would say its rays of light are shards of snow, one imagines the sun lives upon a snow crested peak on this day. One would say she is a woman who wears a gown of winter frost that blinds the eyes. Helplessness has weakened me. Wandering has wearied my legs.
― Roman Payne

Image shows a winter-bare tree standing in a field of snow-draped goldenrod and other native vegetation, their wild beauty unbowed by harsh winds or icy cold. I took the photo on a walk around the Civic Recreation Complex in Whitby, Ontario. Are you still going out and about despite the inclement weather? Or have you decided to cocoon at home until spring returns? Leave a comment below to tell us how you're handling January.
Photo © FieldandGarden.com. All rights reserved.

Printable Vintage Illustration: Conversations in the Garden 9

Treat your relationship
As if you are growing
The most beautiful sacred flower.
Keep watering it,
Tend to the roots,
And always make sure
The petals are full of color
And are never curling.
Once you neglect your plant,
It will die,
As will your relationship.
― Suzy Kassem, Rise Up and Salute the Sun

The smallest indivisible human unit is two people, not one;
one is a fiction.
From such nets of souls societies, the social world, human life springs.
―Tony Kushner
19th century illustration of two ladies having a conversation in the garden. One of them is holding her son by the hand as he calmly takes in his surroundings. 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.

Printable Vintage Art: The Cat and the Flowers by Édouard Manet

Every day, at least for a few minutes, go and be with the plants. Look at them and smile, touch them with love, and talk to them for a while. These little engagements will recuperate your heart and nurture your soul.
― Bhuwan Thapaliya

We are all mistaken sometimes; sometimes we do wrong things, things that have bad consequences. But it does not mean we are evil, or that we cannot be trusted ever afterward.
― Alison Croggon

Vintage drawing titled “The Cat and the Flowers,” 1861 by Édouard Manet (1832-1883); oiginally found on Wikimedia here. This picture resonated with me because our toitoiseshell cat is also a master gardener who simply loves deadheading flowers and plants. She is so zealous in her duties that sometimes she doesn't even wait for the plants to look spent before she slices them off with her razor-sharp claws! Do you have a cat who loves gardening? Feel free to share your experience in the comments below.

My digitally enhanced version of Manet’s vintage drawing can be downloaded as a high-res 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.