As I have been sick the last four or five days, I have had some time to read, and this one caught my eye in the library not because I am a fan of her writing, but because I had watched a Sunday Theatre film about the life of her (Miss Potter, starring Renee Zellweger and Ewan McGregor) and it was fascinating.
And to the book, well I read it in a day. Not that it had much written words as such as it is a book show piecing a lot of her work, but the footnotes to each picture make for some interesting stories and facts. The show stealer however is the art, and what an artist she was!
From her Tales of... series with Peter Rabbit, Jeremy Fisher, Jemima Puddleduck, and all their friends, there were also other prints, sketches and paintings of houses, landscapes, and people.
She was also commissioned to do detailed lithographs for museums, universities and libraries on selected flora and fauna as well as art for other famous writers of her time. Add to this her Greeting card art she dabbled in, plus the countryside she owned (she bought up just about every farm in her favourite region and bred champion sheep), she was undoubtedly a larger than life woman.
For anyone interested in art or Beatrix Potter (it does touch on the biographical here and there) this is a great little read...and the kids will love it too. It has gotten me interested in reading her books I must admit.
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