Beatrix Potter and Her Family Enjoyed Nature Together
I love Beatrix Potter’s art because it is creative and fun, because she illustrated the beautiful English Lake District, and because it reminds me of a homeschool project I did with our daughters many years ago. The three of us learned about Beatrix Potter, and each of us did our own colored pencil drawing of one of her pictures. I copied “The Mice at Work: Threading the Needle” from The Tailor of Gloucester. I enjoy having it in my combination office and sewing room. When Ray and I were at the Frist Art Museum, a nice attendant seemed to enjoy taking our picture while we sat on the spool chairs which represented the spools of thread in that story.
In addition to enjoying art together, Beatrix Potter and her family enjoyed nature. Each March or April the family traveled for a month along the coast. The Tale of Little Pig Robinson was set in one of the coastal towns they visited. One of their special pleasures, while exploring England’s Lake District, was taking boat trips to islands in Lake Derwentwater. Scenes of the lake and the valley nearby later appeared in her books. Squirrels actually did live on one of those islands. This inspired Beatrix to draw squirrels crossing a lake in boats in Squirrel Nutkin. In 1903 the family rented a large villa beside the lake. The kitchen garden inspired Mr. McGregor’s garden in The Tale of Benjamin Bunny.
Ray and I enjoyed sitting in that “garden” at The Drawn with Nature exhibit at the Frist.
Family joys shared together can become a lifetime work that brings joy to generations, as Beatrix Potter’s illustrations and stories have done. Thank you for the work you do each day that will bring joy to your own generations.
Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly
beyond all that we ask or think,
according to the power that works within us,Â
to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus
to all generations forever and ever. Amen.
Ephesians 3:20-21