If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 515

 

 

 

 

 

Flower Fairy, illustration by Cicely Mary Barker, ca 1923-1925

 

This, and the others shared here, are unused postcards with illustration reprints by www.PIXILUV.COM.  They are part of Cicely Mary Barker’s flower fairies collection.  I saw pictures of some of Barker’s illustrations and then discovered that I could order a set of 24 as postcards.  Imagine my surprise when they finally arrived—from New Zealand!  The envelope included some nice stamps as well. 

 

Here are a few more of her flower fairy illustrations.

 

 

In this example it is possible to see how Barker used the leaves and berries or flowers to create the costume.

Here the fairy is sewing buttons made from the Tansy flowers onto a jacket.

 

The lacy Hydrangea in the little fairy's hair and the ruffle skirt of the larger fairy resemble the petals

 In our garden we have a raised bed with mixed raspberries, Marion berries, and Loganberries and a second bed with strawberries, hence this illustration caught my attention. 

 

Cicely Mary Barker was born 28 June 1895 in Croydon, Surrey England.  She had one older sister, Dorothy.  She grew up in a moderately prosperous home with a nanny, cook, and governess.  Barker took art classes by correspondence when she was a girl and later at Croydon School of Art.  Eventually she held a teaching position there.  Her first professional illustrations were found in juvenile magazines, as greeting cards and as postcards.  Her first book, Flower Fairies of the Spring, was published in 1923.  Flower Fairies of Summer and Autumn followed with a series of Winter Fairies published posthumously in 1985.  She also produced a few Christian-themed books such as The Children’s Book of Hymns and He Leadeth Me, in collaboration with her sister.  She designed a stained-glass window for the St. Edmund’s Church, Pitlake.  Barker worked in watercolor, pen and ink, oils and pastels. 

 

In 1912 Barker’s father died.  In 1924 the family moved into a four level Victorian house where Barker had a studio built in the garden and her sister conducted a kindergarten in a room at the back of the house.  Some of the children Barker’s sister taught modeled for the fairy illustrations.  The plants in the illustrations were painted from specimens at hand or provided from Kew Gardens.  Barker also designed and built flower fairy costumes and incorporated the leaves and flowers into the costumes based on the plant that was featured in the illustration.  The wings were made of twigs and gauze.  After each illustration was completed, she recycled the parts for other costumes.   She signed her fairy illustrations with her initials CMB usually at the lower right corner. 

 

Cicely Mary Barker was epileptic as a child and was cared for by her mother and sister.  Her sister passed away in 1954.  Following her mother’s death in 1960 she moved to Storrington Sussex, England where she restored an apartment in a larger building.  The apartment or flat had been bequeathed to her by a friend, Edith Major.  After she moved Barker’s health declined.  Her last years were spent in and out of nursing and convalescent homes and tended by relatives and friends.  She died 16 February 1973.

 

 

 

Perhaps fittingly one of the stamps on the envelope features Children’s Health.  The other stamp features Tongariro National Park.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cicely_Mary_Barker