The beautiful June roses have got me thinking about botanicals. Specifically antique prints. Botanicals have become pretty ubiquitous, I think with good reason. Most people like flowers. And a grouping of botanical prints is pretty and tasteful and pleasing. Still, I think once you deviate from the pre-packaged fern reproductions form
Pottery Barn or
Restoration Hardware, there is room to paint with a more individualistic, perhaps dramatic hand. And why buy a mass-produced reproduction when there are plenty of antique prints to choose from online? (try Etsy or Ebay for example, for inexpensive prints). I've been really drawn to the combination of pink and mauve and grey recently. Inspite of the little girl connotations of pink, something about this combination elevates it to a very elegant, serene realm. I especially like the botanicals I've been finding with grey backgrounds. Wouldn't this be a lovely grouping?
I love too, the boldness of the tropical flowers. Just look at the amazing plumage and spots of the orchids, the sun-burst architecture of the Passion Flower, and the dark, sensual petals of the Rhodochiton!
I didn't even work particularly hard to find these images; they are all from
Antique Print Boutique, an Etsy shop based in Beallsville, MD.
Top row (1 to r):
1. Oncidium Cucullatum Orchid. 1876.
2. Passion flower, 1887.
3. Rhododendron, 1876.
Bottom row:
1. Rhodochiton Volubile, 1838.
2. Louise Odier Rose, 1940.
