Vintage Art Appreciation: June by Fidelia Bridges

June, 1876
by Fidelia Bridges (1834 - 1923)

And since all this loveliness cannot be Heaven, I know in my heart it is June.
― Abba Woolson

June falls asleep upon her bier of flowers;
In vain are dewdrops sprinkled o'er her,
In vain would fond winds fan her back to life,
Her hours are numbered on the floral dial.
― Lucy Larcom

Spring being a tough act to follow, God created June.
― Al Bernstein

So sweet, so sweet the roses in their blowing,
So sweet the daffodils, so fair to see;
So blithe and gay the hummingbird a-going
From flower to flower, a-hunting with the bee.
― Nora Perry, In June

Free Printable Flower Illustrations for Altered Art, Graphic Design or Scrapbooking: Victorian Baskets of Snowdrops and Forget-Me-Nots

sweet spring is your
time is my time is our
time for springtime is lovetime
and viva sweet love

(all the merry little birds are
flying in the floating in the
very spirits singing in
are winging in the blossoming)

lovers go and lovers come
awandering awondering
but any two are perfectly
alone there's nobody else alive

(such a sky and such a sun
i never knew and neither did you
and everybody never breathed
quite so many kinds of yes)

not a tree can count his leaves
each herself by opening
but shining who by thousands mean
only one amazing thing

(secretly adoring shyly
tiny winging darting floating
merry in the blossoming
always joyful selves are singing)

sweet spring is your
time is my time is our
time for springtime is lovetime
and viva sweet love
― e. e. cummings

A pair of Victorian trade cards from circa 1890 with illustrations of spring flowers. The first shows a basket of winter-white snowdrops while the second image contains a basket of riotously blue forget-me-nots. Can be used for vintage-style greeting cards and gift tags or for decorating scrapbook pages and junk journals.

You can download the high-res 6.5" (w) x 4" (h) @ 300 ppi JPEGs without a watermark here (snowdrops) and here (forget-me-nots).


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Printable Bird Illustration for Altered Art, Graphic Design or Scrapbooking: Spring Doves with Basket of Forget-Me-Nots

Love all, trust a few,
Do wrong to none: be able for thine enemy
Rather in power than use; and keep thy friend
Under thy own life's key: be check'd for silence,
But never tax'd for speech.
― William Shakespeare, All's Well That Ends Well
A vintage postcard from 1908 that shows a pair of white doves flying aloft as they carry a basket of brilliantly blue forget-me-nots contained within a basket with pink ribbons tied in bows for handles.

This colourful bird illustration would be lovely as the cover of a greeting card to a friend or loved one (Mother's Day, Valentine's Day or birthday) but could also be used in a mixed media art project or to decorate a scrapbook.

To download the high-res 4" x 6" @ 300 ppi JPEG without a watermark, please click here.


From my personal collection of ephemera. All digital scans by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.

Free Vintage Nature Poem for Kids: Mother by M.M.D.

A poem simply entitled "Mother" by M.M.D. (I suspect it is Mary Mapes Dodge), published in October 1877. This is how it goes:
Early one summer morning,
I saw two children pass:
Their footsteps, slow yet lightsome,
Scarce bent the tender grass.

One, lately out of babyhood,
Looked up with eager eyes;
The other watched her wistfully,
Oppressed with smothered sighs.

"See, mother!" cried the little one,
"I gathered them for you?
The sweetest flowers and lilies,
And Mabel has some too."

"Hush, Nelly!" whispered Mabel,
"We have not reached it yet.
Wait till we get there, darling,
It isn't far, my pet."

"Get where?" asked Nelly. "Tell me."
"To the church-yard," Mabel said.
"No! no!" cried little Nelly,
And shook her sunny head.

Still Mabel whispered sadly,
"We must take them to the grave.
Come, darling?" and the childish voice
Tried to be clear and brave.

But Nelly still kept calling
Far up into the blue;
"See, mother, see, how pretty
We gathered them for you."

And when her sister pleaded,
She cried -- and would not go: --
"Angels don't live in church-yards,
My mother don't, I know."

Then Mabel bent and kissed her.
"So be it, dear," she said;
"We'll take them to the arbor
And lay them there instead."

"For mother loved it dearly,
It was the sweetest place!"
And the joy that came to Nelly
Shone up in Mabel's face.

I saw them turn, and follow
A path with blossoms bright,
Until the nodding branches
Concealed them from my sight;

But still like sweetest music
The words came ringing through;
"See, mother, see, how pretty
We gathered them for you."

Public domain poem is from my personal collection. All digitized poems by FieldandGarden.com are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Please credit and link back to FieldandGarden.com as your source if you use or share this work.