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.

Vintage (Indoor) Garden Illustration: Flowers for Mama, 1866

Love is that condition in which the happiness of another person is essential to your own.
― Robert A. Heinlein, Stranger in a Strange Land

To my child:
Thank you for the good memories, and the wise lessons that I learnt through having you in my life. I knew some things before your arrival. But I know better things today.
― Mitta Xinindlu

Vintage illustration of two young girls with floral tributes to Mama; from 1866. 4.5 x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark here. Larger image size available for licensing. Please inquire.


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.