Friday, September 5, 2008

Beatrix Potter - Renaissance Woman


In my opinion Beatrix Potter was a true Renaissance woman, and ... she was bloody brilliant. Not only was she a storyteller and illustrator extraordinaire, she was very observant, principled, determined and delightful person. She was way ahead of her time. In fact at first she did lots of watercolour studies of mushrooms and fungi amongst other things. Her powers of observation led her to discover the unknown reproductive qualities, the underground Mycellia of fungi. Of course she wasn't a scientist and was a mere woman so who would listen to her... you guessed it nobody as in those days it was the old boys club at Kew Gardens.
I have so much to say Idon't know where to start except to say you must read Linda Lear's biography, Beatrix Potter and do catch Miss Potter the movie, delightful. Tommorow the picture letters.
Just a tidbit today!
Miss Potter poster image-Wikipedia

6 comments:

Margaret said...

My husband and I watched Miss Potter and he LOVED it--even more than I did! I was a little surprised, since he's from Colombia and had never even read her books as a kid. I think her story is appealing to anyone. I look forward to seeing the picture letters!

A World Away said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
A World Away said...

Margaret,
I'm glad your husband loved it. I think Miss Potter has a broad appeal even if there are a few historical inaccuracies. Thanks for visiting!

Tess Kincaid said...

I didn't know much about her background and accomplishments until the movie sparked my interest. Her work for land preservation is so impressive. I love her watercolors as well as her illustrations.

Margaret said...

Hi Stephen,

You have a good eye! Yes, the photo was taken at the Hotel MacDonald (not the CP, but close!), where we had our wedding, and that is the High Level bridge in the background.

I use You Tube to imbed videos in my posts. If you are watching a You Tube video, you'll see a link labeled "imbed" (usually on the top right right-hand side). If you're using blogger, you can just copy that link directly into your post, and a video window will show up in your post.

(I just put this on my blog as well, but I thought I'd put it here in case you missed it!).

Pamela Terry and Edward said...

Her cottage at Hill Top is one of my favorite spots in all the world. Standing by her garden gate, I could almost see one of her perfectly dressed little characters dart under a cabbage leaf! I look forward to your future posts about her.

And, I just received a copy of the Lear biography in the mail. It's up next on my reading list!