Cicely Mary Barker (1895-1973) was an English illustrator who was absolutely in love with nature, plants – and fairies. She painted dozens of the famous flower fairies that a century later are still remarkably popular.
Her first fairy book was Flower Fairies of the Spring, published in 1923, and Barker went on to create dozens of fairies. She worked in primarily in watercolors with pen and ink inclusions, but she was comfortable with oils, too.
We are cross stitchers here at BlissPlan and we also sell flower fairy cross stitch patterns so we were delighted when a lovely lady named Patricia sent us a picture of her recent masterpiece, the Rose Hip Fairy which you can see below.
Barker’s sister ran a kindergarten out of a back room of their home and she used the young children as models for many of her fairies.
Here is the text that accompanies the rose hip fairy:
Cool dewy morning,
Blue sky at noon,
White mist at evening,
And large yellow moon;
Blackberries juicy
For staining of lips;
And scarlet, O scarlet
The Wild Rose Hips!
Gay as a gipsy
All Autumn long,
Here on the hedge-top
This is my song.
By the way, if you’re wondering what a “rose hip” is, it’s a product of a rose plant and has been used for centuries for jams, teas, syrups and more.
Thanks so much to Tricia for sharing!
Leave a Reply