Artwork on the Cheap! (DIY Botanical Prints)

I didn’t intend for cheap DIY artwork to be the first thing you see when you come into my house.

I tried spending. I really did. But then I saw the word FREE and found sources not just for my walls, but for YOURS too!

As part of my back hall refresh, I wanted some type of larger artwork…painting…statement. I wanted something flowery…and even ordered a large canvas print of white geraniums from Amazon (which I did not love and tried to return…but they said to keep. Uh, well…if I must. It’s now in the upstairs hallway.)

But THAT did nothing to solve the entrance issue.

_____

Then BOOM! I knew EXACTLY what I wanted!

I wanted these prints from the Mackenzie-Childs farmhouse:

which I already knew are N O T for sale.

SO that, friendly visitor, requires a DIY.

An illustration on paper? Shouldn’t be too hard.

I searched on-line for “botanical art” …then “free botanical drawings” …then eventually “public domain botanical artwork”

Holy Floodgates, Batman….there is a WORLD of free artwork from reliable sources that you can download into your computer, print, then hang on your walls! Not just hundreds…or thousands…but MILLIONS of F R E E images that are yours for the asking downloading.

And not just botanicals; there are maps, architectural studies, trees, bumble bee entomology, nudes (well, not for my house. We’re very immature. Jokes and post it notes would abound), pastoral scenery, sea creatures…. There’s SO much out there, literally and figuratively at your fingertips! (That’s a keyboard reference…see what I did there?)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art alone has an Open Access collection of more than 400K downloadable works that you can use… AND shake, bake, take and make: i.e., incorporate into other works if you’re feeling super creative.

But you get the idea, right? I’ll add links to free, public domain artwork at the bottom of this post.

SO…my search for botanicals led me to the Biodiversity Heritage Library on Flickr.

I searched the images until I found these two that fit the general idea of what I wanted, then downloaded them into my computer.

Depending on what size artwork you need, that’s all there is to it!

From there, just go to your favorite on-line photo processor like Snapfish, Shutterfly or your local drugstore. Upload your image, edit it as (or if) desired, and have it printed on paper/canvas/metal/wood etc. I usually use Walgreens for my prints. They’re right down the street from me (at the corner of happy and healthy, lol), AND they very frequently offer 50% and 60% coupon codes….right under their “Deals” tab.

PRINT, HANG, ENJOY… FINITO!

_________

UNLESS….

Many of the artwork sources linked below offer downloads that are already in high resolution and are ready to print. But because I wanted to customize my botanical…I needed to play a little. (C’mon, you KNEW I’d make it a challenge, right?)

These next instructions are for anyone who wants to add or amend…don’t be afraid, it’s not that hard! OTHERWISE, go ahead and scroll down to the bottom for the links …OR if you’re interested in downloading my prints for FREE (don’t you love FREE)!

I really should learn to use Photoshop…but it used to be quite expensive, so I’ve gotten used to building images using plain-old Pages software. (I think those of you who use PCs will find Word will work similarly.) For special edits, I turn to an inexpensive (~$40) program called Graphic Converter (which I purchased some time ago, use all the time, and about which I am STILL learning new things).

Step one…in Pages, open a new document. In the upper menu, select “Page Setup”:

and when the window opens, change the Paper Size to “Manage Custom Sizes”:

Then, so the resolution of the image won’t be grainy or too pixelated, change the Paper Size to the approximate or exact measurements you’d like for your finished artwork. Mine was 20″ x 30.”

Then click OK.

I also like to remove all the margins on my workpage, but I do that in the Document format tab:

Next, I drag the downloaded image from my Finder into the Pages document:

Then drag the corners of the image to resize as desired.

I like to periodically center the image using the Align tab:

The inspiration artwork had a black border, so I added one:

This print was originally scanned from an old book, and if my walls had been a little lighter, I think that would be cool and the colors vibrant. But the scanned background color of the original artwork was a little dark for my already dark walls, so I experimented with enhancing, overexposing and desaturating the color until I was happy with the results:

(I was a little picky about this, so rather than washing out the colors TOO much, I turned to Graphic Convertor and obsessively removed the remaining yellow-tint with the Magic Background Remover tool. This is getting kind of far into the weeds, so I won’t detail it here, BUT feel free to ask if you have questions and I will happily address it.)

And then… I added the “extra something” that made my heart sing! You all know I’m a fan of Mackenzie-Childs’ whimsical style, particularly their Courtly Check pattern, right?

“Yes,” you politely think to yourself, “but only because you drone on and on and on about it.“

See how they used the check as the border of the inspiration artwork?

It may not be your style, which is a-okay. Differences are what make life interesting. However, it’s definitely mine AND if you recall…that check was the basis for the fabric choices used in the refresh.

Ready for my unabashedly immodest self-congratulatory moment?

I bought a few rolls of MC giftwrap (half-price at last year’s Barn Sale) and SCANNED a piece into my computer!

HA!

SO freaking excited!!!

Then I dragged it into the document (like I did with the artwork) and kept duplicating and cropping until I had built the entire border around the botanical print.

With the check border in place, the print evolved into this:

Next I repeated the process with this beautiful Anemone (that I mistook for a poppy because I am a gardening simpleton).

I loved the brilliant colors in the original, but muted them using the exposure settings because they better complemented the hues in my fabric.

Repeated the whole process above and VOILA!

Then, because I’m weirdly obsessive about the teeniest of things on my DIYs, I tweaked, and adjusted, tweaked and adjusted; washed, rinsed and repeated until I couldn’t nitpick any more.

When you’re finished tweaking, you’ll need your file to be in JPEG format to send to your photo processor. For my computer it’s a simple two-step process. First, export the Pages file to PDF, as shown:

THEN I open the PDF document and click “Export” ….

which gives you this dialog box. Under “Format” select “JPEG”:

WooHoo! NOW you’re ready to upload and select printing options. Printing images as posters is a great option with Walgreens because they use a heavy stock, almost like a cardboard, which is sturdy and great for framing.

I also preferred the heavy print paper vs, say canvas or metal, because I visually wanted the added heavy black border of the picture frames (although you can print on canvas and select wrapped sides in the color of your choice). But what a great option for other artwork…or perhaps a future gallery wall!

After I uploaded the prints, I parted with my $40 dollars, picked ’em up in an hour, popped ’em into frames and slapped ’em on the wall. (Actually, I did not slap. I used monkey hooks. Do you use them? Sooooo easy!)

ALSO…I had originally intended to paint the scant inner edge of the frame with gold to set off the images as they did with the inspo artwork…but, the rest of my accents in the hallway are nickel, so I just left them plain.

I’m looking forward to downloading more selections for my Living Room gallery wall. Really, the choices are limitless! AND NEARLY FREE!!!

LINKS

Here are some sources for free downloadable artwork with Open Access and/or the designation “Free to use without restriction.”

• Open Access at the Met
• Biodiversity Heritage Library on Flickr
• New York Public Library Digital Collections (be sure to click the “public domain” box when you search)
• The Brooklyn Museum
• Pixabay
• Creative Commons

What are you waiting for…GO FILL THOSE WALLS!!!

AND, with luck, a FREE OFFER

WOULD YOU LIKE MY PRINTS but don’t want to mess with the computery stuff?

Well, I’m asking for a little patience here, but I’m trying to make them available as free download just to say “Thanks” for hanging out with me. (I try to incentivize all my friendships.)

I think I have it all set up properly, but there may be a kink or two at first.

If you’re not a subscriber, sign up, confirm and you SHOULD get an email that takes you to the images, where you can save them to your computer. If you’re already a subscriber (bless you, thank you), resubmit your email address, and cross your fingers. (If you subcribe via WordPress you may have to sign up again using the Mailchimp pop-up or the widget in the sidebar.) The gallery files are hosted by Mailchimp, so they should be secure and virus free. Just click on the image(s) you want, a high resolution version should open, click “File” in your browser menu bar and “Save as.”

I’m not expecting a flood of requests, haha. But I AM expecting a few bugs at first, so please let me know via email (Em@DustandDoghair.com) if you have any trouble, and in the comments below if you are successful.

If it works, YAY! If not, you hopefully will forgive me while advising me to stick to burning yard carts. I do that well!