Editing Cicely Mary Barker (section)

== Fairy art ==

Cicely was also influenced by the huge popular interest in fairies which developed from the [[Victorian literature|Victorian]] enthusiasm for fairy stories and was epitomised by the immense popularity of [[J. M. Barrie]]'s ''[[Peter Pan]]'' in the early part of the 20th century. Published in 1923, ''Flower Fairies of the Spring'' was well received by a post-industrial, war-weary public who were charmed by her vision of hope and innocence, which seemed to evoke a less aggressively modern world.
 
[[Mary of Teck|Queen Mary]] did much to encourage the vogue for fairy paintings during the 1920s by frequently sending postcards depicting fairies to her friends. This popularity saw the publication of Cicely Mary Barker's Elves and Fairies postcards in 1918.<ref name=CL2>{{cite web |url=https://www.countrylife.co.uk/articles/cicely-mary-barker-flower-fairytale-183451 |title=Cicely Mary Barker: A Flower Fairytale |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=Country Life |publisher= |access-date=12 December 2024}}</ref>

Barker always used real-life models for her paintings. Most of the models came from the kindergarten her sister Dorothy ran in the back room of the house in which they lived. She also painted the children and relatives. One of her models was Gladys Tidy, the young girl who came to the house every Saturday to do the household work.<ref name=CL2 />

Barker always asked the child model to hold the flower, twig or blossom of a particular fairy, for she wanted to be sure of the accuracy of her depiction of the shape, texture and form of the plant. Her only alteration was to the size, she enlarged the flower to make it the same size as the child.

Her flowers are always botanically accurate. If she could not find a flower close at hand, she enlisted the help of staff at [[Kew Gardens]], who would often visit with specimens for her to paint. She wrote in the foreword to ''Flower Fairies of the Wayside'':

{{blockquote|So let me say quite plainly, that I have drawn all the plants and flowers very carefully, from real ones; and everything that I have said about them is as true as I could make it. But I have never seen a fairy; the fairies and all about them are just "pretend".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://flowerfairies.com/books/about-the-author/ |title=About the author |website=Flower Fairies |year=2024 |access-date=11 April 2024 }}</ref>}}