Born Helen Beatrix Potter she lived from July 28, 1866 to December 22, 1943
She was an English author, illustrator, mycologist and conservationist best known for her best-selling children's books that featured animal characters, such as Peter Rabbit.
Born into a privileged household, Potter was educated by governesses and grew up isolated from other children. She had numerous pets and, through holidays spent in Scotland and the Lake District, developed a love of landscape, flora and fauna, all of which she closely observed and painted.
Her parents discouraged her intellectual development as a young woman, but her study and watercolors of fungi led to her being widely respected in the field of mycology.
In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's book The Tale of Peter Rabbit, and became secretly engaged to her publisher Norman Warne. This caused a breach with her parents, who disapproved of her marrying someone of lower social status. Warne died before the wedding could take place.
Potter began writing and illustrating children's books full time. Having become financially independent of her parents, she was able to buy a farm in the Lake District, which she extended with other purchases over time. In her forties, she married William Heelis, a local solicitor. She became a sheep breeder and farmer while continuing to write and illustrate books for children. She published a total of twenty-three books.
Potter died in 1943, and left almost all of her property to the National Trust.
Potter's books continue to sell well throughout the world, in multiple languages. Her stories have been retold in various formats, including a ballet, films and in animation.
ďƒ’â€ˆ She
did her sketching in pencil or pen and ink. For her finished pieces, she worked mostly in watercolor adding pen and ink where it seemed necessary. Occasionally, she would touch up her watercolors with white oil paint to bring out some highlights. Her delicate pen-and-ink and watercolor illustrations are charming but it is her studies in her sketchbook that show her true draftsmanship. Her sense of perspective was impeccable and her affinity for detail is evident in her nature studies.
ďƒ’â€ˆ Potter
would write out her stories in an exercise book, paste in a few watercolors and a number of pen-and-ink sketches and then would present it as a gift to a favored child. In this way, she was able to try out her books on real children first. She would then borrow the little book back while working on the finished illustrations. She was not always able to capture the charm of her original sketch and at least on one occasion, the original sketch was used instead of the newer one.
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